The second Moto2 Friday of the 2020 season belonged to Luca Marini at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Italian was on top of the timesheets in FP1 and FP2 to lay down the gauntlet for his rivals. Thanks to his FP1 time, Jorge Navarro (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) sits P2 as the Spaniard splits the Sky Racing Team VR46 duo inside the top three, with Marco Bezzecchi third.
Much like it was in the MotoGP class, it was clear from the early stages that the Moto2 riders were going to struggle to better their FP1 times that were set in cooler track temperatures of the morning.
Ground temperatures were well into the 50s for the intermediate class, but Marini looked as comfortable as he did in the morning session.
Both he and teammate Bezzecchi looked strong in both sessions on Friday, and they worked in tandem for a brief period in FP2.
It wasn’t quite such a straightforward afternoon for the man second overall as Navarro’s bike suffered some sort of issue and the Spaniard had to pull to the side of the track down the back straight, a slight disruption to his FP2 running. Nevertheless, Navarro was able to get back out and finish P6 in the session itself.
Championship leader Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was another man to look comfortable across Friday’s action as he finished the day fourth, with Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) completing the top five.
Previous Jerez winner Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) was sixth as he rejoins the field after injury, ahead of Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Fabio Di Giannantonio (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) took P8, with American rider Joe Roberts back in action to put his Tennor American Racing machine in ninth. Hafizh Syahrin (Inde Aspar Team Moto2) was P10 to make it three Speed Ups in the top ten.
Tom Lüthi (Liqui Moly Intact GP) was 11th despite a crash, with two-time Jerez winner Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) just behind him. Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Somkiat Chantra (Honda Team Asia) lock out the fastest fourteen who are currently on for provisional Q2 entry.
After FP3 on Saturday morning, tune in for qualifying from from 15:10 (GMT +2) as the intermediate class prepare to decide a grid for the first time in a good while.
Moto2 fastest on Friday
1 Luca Marini – Sky Racing Team VR46 – Kalex 1:41.410
2 Jorge Navarro – HDR Heidrun Speed Up – Speed Up +0.048
3 Marco Bezzecchi– Sky Racing Team VR46 – Kalex – +0.315
