Celestino Vietti was quickest during Moto2 World Championship Practice Friday afternoon at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, in Spain. Riding his Beta Tools SpeedRS Team Boscoscuro on Pirelli control tires, the Italian rider covered the 2.89-mile (4.66 km) road course in 1:41.611, topping the field of 27 riders.
Senna Agius was the best of the rest with a 1:41.625 on his Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex.
Alonso Lopez was third-fastest with a 1:41.637 on his ITALJET Gresini Kalex.
Daniel Holgado finished the session fourth on his CFMOTO Impulse Aspar Team Kalex with a time of 1:41.815.
Izan Guevara got fifth with a lap time of 1:41.827 on his BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Boscoscuro.
American Joe Roberts finished Friday afternoon’s practice session 21st with a 1:42.742 on his OnlyFans American Racing Team Kalex.
moto2 practice
More from a press release issued by MotoGP:
Vietti secures double Friday P1 as Alonso faces Q1. The on-song Italian beats Agius to Friday honours in Barcelona, while Aspar’s Colombian suffers technical issues and misses most of the session.
P1 in FP1, P1 in Practice. That’s a pretty decent day at the office for Celestino Vietti (Beta Tools SpeedRS Team) in Barcelona, but it’s tight at the top. Second place Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and third place Alonso Lopez (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) lapped under half a tenth away from Vietti’s 1:41.611, as technical problems arose for David Alonso (CFMOTO Impluse Aspar Team), which means the Colombian faces Q1 for the second weekend in succession.
Problems were immediately apparent for the #80 when his Kalex-Triumph decided to grind to a halt on his way out of pit lane at the beginning of the session, and after several attempts to get going again, Alonso wouldn’t set a competitive lap time until the final 10 minutes of play. The end result was a P26, 1.7s off Vietti. An afternoon to forget.
There were no such issues on the other side of the box though. Daniel Holgado (CFMOTO Impluse Aspar Team) ended Friday in P4, a couple of tenths shy of Vietti’s best, with French GP winner Izan Guevara (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) completing the top five.
World Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) spent the majority of the session outside the top 20, but a couple of solid late laps saw the title race frontrunner pounce into P7 – one spot behind compatriot Alex Escrig (KLINT Racing Team).
Alonso will be joined in Q1 by Barry Baltus (REDS Fantic Racing) after the Belgian crashed at Turn 5 in the closing stages, with French GP podium finisher Ivan Ortola (QJMOTOR – Bordoy – MSI) also in the opening 15 minutes of qualifying after a P16 on Friday.
Tune into Moto2 qualifying at 14:05 local time!
