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Practice report

Qatar Moto2: Roberts breaks lap record in practice

American Racing Team rider Joe Roberts usurped the Losail lap record to end Moto2 Friday practice for the Qatar Grand Prix fastest.

Joe Roberts, American Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

As with Moto3, because the Moto2 class was already present in Qatar for a pre-season test it will race on this weekend, while the MotoGP grand prix is cancelled as a result of quarantine restrictions on Italian travellers.

The opening session was topped by ex-Marc VDS MotoGP rider Tom Luthi aboard the Intact GP Kalex.

The Swiss rider edged 2018 Moto3 champion Jorge Martin, whose team Ajo Motorsport has switched chassis manufacturer to Kalex this season after KTM ended its intermediate class programme to focus on MotoGP and Moto3.

Moto2 rookie Aron Canet completed the top three at the end of an impressive session on the Aspar Speed Up, with Augusto Fernandez (Pons Kalex) and Roberts rounding out the top five.

Xavi Vierge (Petronas Kalex), Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro and last year’s Qatar winner Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons) all suffered crashes in FP1.

The second session, run under floodlights, was littered with crashes, with FP1 pacesetter Luthi getting flicked from his bike at Turn 12 early on. 

His Intact GP team got his bike repaired and the Swiss rider back on track late on, for him to go down again at Turn 2 and end the day clinging onto a direct Q2 qualifying place in 11th on the combined times by virtue of his FP1 lap. 

Fernandez held top spot for a while in the second session, though he too took a trip into the gravel trap when he tucked the front of his bike at Turn 5.

Moments later, Remy Gardner was launched from his SAG Kalex and hit the deck heavily. Mercifully, he was able to walk away unscathed. 

Valentino Rossi protege Luca Marini took over top spot in the dying stages with a 1m58.759s on his VR46 Kalex.

But his time at the head of the pack was short lived, as Roberts dipped underneath the outright lap record with a 1m58.421s to end the first Moto2 running of the decade 0.248s clear of the second VR46 machine of Marco Bezzecchi. 

Marini held onto third ahead of Ajo's Tetsuta Nagashima, Vierge, Fernandez, RW Racing’s Bo Bendsneyder, Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Kalex), Nicolo Bulega (Gresini Kalex) and Martin.

Marc VDS rider Sam Lowes missed the test at Qatar last week owing to an injury he picked up at Jerez last month, but was declared fit to ride on Friday and managed 20th on the combined times with a 1m59.641s.

FP2 results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 16 United States Joe Roberts Kalex 1'58.421  
2 72 Italy Marco Bezzecchi Kalex 1'58.669 0.248
3 10 Italy Luca Marini Kalex 1'58.759 0.338
4 45 Japan Tetsuta Nagashima Kalex 1'58.921 0.500
5 97 Spain Xavi Vierge Kalex 1'59.059 0.638
6 37 Spain Augusto Fernandez Kalex 1'59.074 0.653
7 64 Netherlands Bo Bendsneyder NTS 1'59.089 0.668
8 33 Italy Enea Bastianini Kalex 1'59.114 0.693
9 11 Italy Nicolo Bulega Kalex 1'59.136 0.715
10 88 Spain Jorge Martin Kalex 1'59.148 0.727
11 9 Spain Jorge Navarro Speed Up 1'59.189 0.768
12 23 Germany Marcel Schrotter Kalex 1'59.198 0.777
13 7 Italy Lorenzo Baldassarri Kalex 1'59.237 0.816
14 44 Spain Arón Canet Speed Up 1'59.278 0.857
15 21 Italy Fabio Di Giannantonio Speed Up 1'59.284 0.863
16 35 Thailand Somkiat Chantra Kalex 1'59.290 0.869
17 87 Australia Remy Gardner Kalex 1'59.434 1.013
18 57 Spain Edgar Pons Kalex 1'59.486 1.065
19 22 United Kingdom Sam Lowes Kalex 1'59.561 1.140
20 96 United Kingdom Jake Dixon Kalex 1'59.641 1.220
21 42 Spain Marcos Ramirez Kalex 1'59.709 1.288
22 24 Italy Simone Corsi MV 1'59.839 1.418
23 40 Spain Hector Garzo Kalex 2'00.020 1.599
24 62 Italy Stefano Manzi MV 2'00.160 1.739
25 2 Switzerland Jesko Raffin NTS 2'00.183 1.762
26 12 Switzerland Thomas Luthi Kalex 2'00.262 1.841
27 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin Speed Up 2'00.396 1.975
28 19 Italy Lorenzo Dalla Porta Kalex 2'00.804 2.383
29 27 Andi Izdihar Kalex 2'01.265 2.844
30 99 Kasma Daniel Kalex 2'02.886 4.465

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