The Italian hits back on Day 1 on home turf, with Lopez, Pasini and Fernandez on the chase.
Thanks to an 1:36.573 in Moto2™ FP1, Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) tops the standings on Friday at the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini despite a crash in the closing stages of FP2. Alonso Lopez (+Ego Speed Up) is just 0.024s in arrears and rounding out the top three is wildcard Mattia Pasini (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) – the Italian also crashed in the afternoon session.
With 20 minutes to go, Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Lopez and Albert Arenas (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) were the only riders who had improved their times inside the top 10, as the top five remained unchanged from FP1.
After finishing FP1 in P2, wildcard Pasini then had a small crash at Turn 4 with 15 minutes to go while still in second, 0.095s off Vietti’s Friday morning pace. A few minutes later, the latter crashed unhurt at Turn 10 right in front of teammate Niccolo Antonelli, who did well to avoid both bike and rider.
Some improvements came in the final five minutes of the session, most notably Lopez moving up to P2 ahead of Pasini, with the top five covered by just 0.119s as Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) bettered their morning efforts.
Provisional Q2 places
Behind Vietti, Lopez and Pasini, Fernandez ends Day 1 in P4 only 0.094s away from top spot, with Dixon P5 after his late improvement. Sixth place Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) and seventh place Arenas both crashed unhurt while pushing for a better time, both the Spaniards are safely inside the provisional automatic Q2 places though, as are Chantra, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) in P8, P9 and P10 respectively. The final riders set to move through as it stands are Championship leader Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2), Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Italtrans Racing Team) and Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team)… but it cold all change again in FP3!
Tune into that at 10:55 local time (GMT+2) on Saturday before qualifying from 15:10!
FRIDAY: TOP 3
1 Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) – Kalex – 1’36.573
2 Alonso Lopez (+Ego Speed Up) – Boscoscuro – +0.024
3 Mattia Pasini (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) – Kalex – +0.095
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