Despite midday approaching, temperatures are still freezing for August in Austria; 10° in the air, 15° on the track.
In view of the tests and after the 1'37.9 in Moto3 achieved by Brad Binder and the 1'25.8 in MotoGP, we expect that the best times in Moto2 will be around 1'30.8 since during the private tests, Johann Zarco and Tom Lüthi were credited with 1'29.3.
Sam Lowes, one of the contenders for the title, fell without seriousness at turn #3, losing his balance during one of his impressive skids.
Quickly, Tom Luthi undermines the predictions by achieving a very good 1'30.325.
At my mid-session, we found behind him, at least half a second, Johann Zarco, Marcel Schrotter, Miguel Oliveira, Simone Corsi, Jonas Folger, Franco Morbidelli, Dany Kent, Alex Rins and Dominique Aegerter.
alex rins produced his effort a few minutes later and took the second best time, but still half a second behind the temporarily inaccessible Tom Lüthi.
10 minutes from the checkered flag, Johann zarco reduced the gap to 2 tenths with the Swiss driver. The Frenchman continues his forcing and gets closer to 95 thousandths 3 minutes from the end of the session. One lap later, only 16 thousandths separate the French from the Swiss...
In the final packaging, Jonas Folger, future teammate of Johann Zarco at Tech3 MotoGP, seems to get everyone in agreement, but it is ultimately the French rider who wins by a tenth in 1'30.117.
Alex Rins, the Frenchman's closest opponent for the title, finished 10th at 6 tenths, just ahead of Sam Lowes.
| Pos | Pile | Country | Team | Motorcycle | HIGHLIGHTS | difference | ||
| 1 | johann zarco | FRA | Ajo Motorsport | Kalex | 1'30.117 | |||
| 2 | Jonas Folger | GER | Dynavolt Intact GP | Kalex | 1'30.235 | 0.118 | ||
| 3 | Thomas LUTHI | SWI | Garage Plus Interwetten | Kalex | 1'30.325 | 0.208 | ||
| 4 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | POR | Leopard Racing | Kalex | 1'30.594 | 0.477 | ||
| 5 | Marcel SCHROTTER | GER | AGR Team | Kalex | 1'30.630 | 0.513 | ||
| 6 | Simone COURSES | ITA | Speed Up Racing | Speed Up | 1'30.677 | 0.560 | ||
| 7 | Danny Kent | GBR | Leopard Racing | Kalex | 1'30.730 | 0.613 | ||
| 8 | Axel PONS | SPA | AGR Team | Kalex | 1'30.739 | 0.622 | ||
| 9 | Dominique AEGERTER | SWI | CarXpert Interwetten | Kalex | 1'30.781 | 0.664 | ||
| 10 | Alex Rins | SPA | Pages Yellow HP 40 | Kalex | 1'30.794 | 0.677 | ||
| 11 | Sam LOWES | GBR | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex | 1'30.803 | 0.686 | ||
| 12 | Edgar PONS | SPA | Pages Yellow HP 40 | Kalex | 1'30.847 | 0.730 | ||
| 13 | Sandro CORTESE | GER | Dynavolt Intact GP | Kalex | 1'30.860 | 0.743 | ||
| 14 | Frank MORBIDELLI | ITA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex | 1'31.003 | 0.886 | ||
| 15 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | 1'31.163 | 1.046 | ||
| 16 | Alex MARQUEZ | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex | 1'31.173 | 1.056 | ||
| 17 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | ITA | Forward Team | Kalex | 1'31.357 | 1.240 | ||
| 18 | Matthias PASINI | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 1'31.417 | 1.300 | ||
| 19 | Julian SIMON | SPA | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 1'31.907 | 1.790 | ||
| 20 | Isaac VIÑALES | SPA | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 | 1'31.917 | 1.800 | ||
| 21 | Xavier SIMEON | BEL | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 1'31.933 | 1.816 | ||
| 22 | Robin MULHAUSER | SWI | CarXpert Interwetten | Kalex | 1'31.983 | 1.866 | ||
| 23 | Luca MARINI | ITA | Forward Team | Kalex | 1'32.188 | 2.071 | ||
| 24 | Hafiz Syahrin | MAL | Petronas Raceline Malaysia | Kalex | 1'32.272 | 2.155 | ||
| 25 | Xavi VIRGIN | SPA | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 | 1'32.536 | 2.419 | ||
| 26 | Jesko RAFFIN | SWI | Sports-Millions-EMWE-SAG | Kalex | 1'32.583 | 2.466 | ||
| 27 | Remy GARDNER | AUS | Moto2 Scuderia Racing pocket | Kalex | 1'32.784 | 2.667 | ||
| 28 | Ratthapark WILAIROT | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | 1'32.828 | 2.711 |
