Izan Guevara took top honours on Day 1 at the Catalunya Grand Prix, topping FP1 and FP2 to end Friday with a two tenths in hand over rookie Daniel Holgado.
Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) was third quickest, another tenth in arrears.
FP1
Guevara set the pace in FP1, clocking a 1:48.675 in the closing minutes of the opening session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Holgado moved to second with the chequered flag out when he set a 1:48.870, pushing Foggia back to third.
Jaume Masia was just 0.016 seconds slower again on the second Red Bull KTM Ajo bike, 0.103 seconds up on the second Leopard of Tatsuki Suzuki. World Championship leader and Italian GP winner Sergio Garcia set a 1:49.392 for P7.
The 40-minute session was mostly incident-free although Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) was seen in the gravel – upright – at Turn 5 before setting a 1:49.451 which was good enough to be classified eighth. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) had a late spill at Turn 1 – rider okay – having logged a 1:49.919 which saw him ultimately classified 14th.
FP2
Guevara was once again the rider to watch, but the gap between the number 28 and Foggia was only 0.023 by the end of play. Suzuki was third quickest ahead of Ryusei Yamanaka (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP), with Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) completing the top five 0.351 off the top.
Garcia was next up, only 0.032 further back.
Tatay had a second incident, and Josh Whatley (VisionTrack Racing Team) and Suzuki also crashed in FP2.
Provisional Q2 places
It’s Guevara on top ahead of Holgado from their FP1 times, with Foggia and Masia next. Suzuki is fifth thanks to his FP2 best, ahead of fellow afternoon improver Yamanaka.
Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) is seventh overall, ahead of Toba. Garcia is ninth on the combined timesheets, with Öncü, Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team), Tatay and recent debutant David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) next up.
The final rider to move straight through to Q2 as it stands is Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse), but it could all change in FP3. Tune in for that from 9:00 (GMT +2), before qualifying from 12:35!