Moto3 Valencia-2 FP2: Jaume Masiá takes Valencia

Unlike the MotoGP category which seems to be heading towards the coronation of Joan Mir, the entry series of Grands Prix presents complete uncertainty as to the outcome of the Moto3 championship.

Albert Arenas (KTM, Aspar Team Gaviota), the strong man at the start of the season, has suffered a lot of unfortunate adventures recently, and finds himself within shooting range of Ai Ogura (Honda, Honda Team Asia), the latter showing a deficit of only 3 points on the Spanish driver.

Behind, Celestine Vietti (KTM, Sky Racing Team VR46), Tony Arbolino (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team) and Jaume Masia (Honda, Leopard Racing) are in ambush at 20, 23 and 24 points respectively while John mcphee (Honda, Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Raul Fernandez (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo) still have a weak but real mathematical hope, 38 and 39 points behind the leader while a maximum of 50 units are still available between Valencia and Portimao.

This morning in FP1,Tony Arbolino (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team) set a new circuit record in 1'38.413 ahead of Deniz Oncu (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3), Roman Fenati (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) and Jeremy Alcove (Honda, Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) while the championship leader Albert Arenas (KTM, Aspar Team Gaviota) and its main opponent Ai Ogura (Honda, Honda Team Asia) were positioned 12th and 13th.

The sky is still generally cloudy and temperatures are 19° in the air and 20° on the ground for this second 40-minute Moto3 session.

For the record, here is a table which recalls the facts known so far:

Moto3 ™	Valencia-1 2020	Valencia-2 2020
FP1	1'49.840 Jaume Masia	1'38.413 Tony Arbolino
FP2	1'45.356 Celestino Vietti	1'38.479 Jaume Masia
FP3	1'49.559 John McPhee
Q1	1'45.745 Ai Ogura
Q2	1'52.252 John McPhee
Warm up	1'40.228 Albert Arenas
Course	Fernández, Garcia, Ogura
All time lap record	1'38.428 Jorge Martin 2017	1'38.413 Tony Arbolino

At the opening of the track… We note the absence of Filip Salač (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team), victim of a heavy fall this morning and currently undergoing examinations following back pain.

While they both crashed together this morning, Sky Racing Team VR46 teammates Andrea Migno and Celestino Vietti immediately go to the top of the ranking, in 1'39.2.

Tony Arbolino (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team), new circuit record holder, comes between the Doctor's two pilots.

Niccolo Antonelli (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse) temporarily takes command in 1'39.149 while we try out the new WP fork at KTM.

Did you say “aspiration in the straight line”?

With the same track temperature, the times are slower than this morning, indicating that the drivers left with worn out tires. It should accelerate at the end of the session…

Halfway through the session, Antonelli precede Vietti, Arbolino, Migno, Fenati, Nepa, Foggia, Masiá, Alcoba, Arenas, Ogura, Toba, Binder, Sasaki, Lopez, Tatay and Fernandez.

Although on a hard tire, Albert Arenas then places his KTM from the Aspar team (which will be called Gas Gas and will be red next year) in 5th then 2nd position for the last quarter of an hour.

Tatsuki suzuki (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Deniz Oncu (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3) enter the top 10, as do Darryn Binder (KTM, CIP–Green Power) which ended up in 2nd place. This benefits the latter's teammate, Maximilian Kofler, who, in his wheel, rises to 10th position.

7 minutes from the end of the session, we start to take out the soft tires, and Raul Fernandez (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo) then Niccolo Antonelli (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse) picked up the pace, the Italian registering 1'38.563 before jeopardizing the new circuit record but being hampered in the last sector..

In the next passage, Sergio Garcia (Honda, Estrella Galicia 0,0) recorded 1'38.496 while 18 drivers were within the same half-second!

In extremis, Jaume Masia (Honda, Leopard Racing) takes command.

FP2 results of the Valencian Community Moto3 Grand Prix in Valencia:

FP1/FP2 results of the Valencian Community Moto3 Grand Prix in Valencia:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com