Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) topped the timesheets on Day 1 of the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya as his 1:44.804 proved he’s back to his brilliant best.
The margins were amazingly close, however, and just 0.002s back comes Championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed Up) is in hot pursuit on Day 1 in third, with Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) fourth but still just 0.058s off the top.
Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) made a big step to top Practice 2 and jumped up to the top 5 on combined times. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) was one of many who struggled to improve as the temperatures rose in Practice 2, but did consolidate P6 thanks to his P1 time. Three afternoon improvers are up next: Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and rookie Sergio Garcia (Pons Wegos Los40).
Jake Dixon (Asterius GASGAS Aspar Team) rounded out the top 10 ahead of title contender Tony Arbolino (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team), with Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) pipping 2022 Barcelona winner and winner last time out Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing). Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools Speed Up) is currently on to pick up the final Q2 spot.
Moto2™ will be back in action on Saturday for Practice 3 at 9:25 and qualifying at 13:45 local (GMT +2).
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