KTM take the Red Bull Ring by the horns on Day 1 #ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย

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KTM take the Red Bull Ring by the horns on Day 1

Aug 15. 2020

By THE NATION

Pol Espargaro tops a Friday of two halves, ahead of a back-on-form Dovizioso and impressive Nakagami

Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was the fastest man on Friday in the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, the KTM rider bouncing back from the disappointment of his Czech GP to take P1 by a small but apt 0.044. Second place went to an Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) on a mission as the Italian shot back up the timseheets after a difficult weekend in Brno, with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) completing a top three split by less than two tenths. FP1 was dry and FP2 rain affected, with the weather so far in Styria proving a key protagonist.

FP1

Pol Espargaro’s best lap was his fastest effort from the morning, with the Spaniard exchanging P1 with Dovizioso in the final five minutes but coming out on top. Nakagami also propelled himself into the top echelons in the closing exchanges, taking third in another ultra-competitive MotoGP™ session that saw five manufacturers in the top five.Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) continued to impress as he took fourth despite still being on the road back from a dislocated/fractured shoulder, with Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) following up his first premier class podium in Brno as the top Yamaha in FP1. Then, from Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) in sixth to Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) in tenth there was only a tenth in it – with seventh, eighth and ninth taken by Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) respectively.Bradley Smith (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was the sole crasher of the session despite many pushing to set a banker lap due to the weather forecast, with the Brit going down at Turn 4. He headed to the Medical Centre for a check up and was given the all clear to continue.

Click here for combined timesheets
MotoGP™: the five fastest on Friday
Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM – 1:24.193
Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati – +0.044
Takaaki Nakagami* – LCR Honda Idemitsu – Honda – +0.185
Alex Rins – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki – +0.380
Franco Morbidelli* – Petronas Yamaha SRT – Yamaha – +0.395
*Independent Team rider
Lowes heads Martin by just 0.010 on Friday
The Brit and the Spaniard duel it out in the last few minutes of FP2, with Bezzecchi third overall

Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) ended Friday at the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich as the fastest man in Moto2™, but the Brit had to work for it as he duelled Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) for the honour late in an FP2 characterised by improving conditions. In the end it’s just 0.010 that separates the two, with Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team VR46) another tenth and a half back in P3 overall.

FP1

It was Lowes who took the first spoils of the weekend, the Brit ending FP1 at the top – but even then, it was by only 0.016. Bezzecchi was the man just behind him in the morning after a late lunge up the timesheets, with Augusto Fernandez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completing a top three split by just 0.044.

Jorge Martin and Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) completed the top five in FP1, ahead of Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), rookie Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team), Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) and Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), who locked out the top ten in a session that saw most of the field pushing early doors, spooked by the threat of rain later in the day.

Marcos Ramirez (Tennor American Racing) had a technical problem in the session, and the sole faller was Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Italtrans Racing Team).

FP2

After a sunny morning, it looked like the rain could ruin everyone’s chances of improving but that didn’t quite hold true for Moto2™. After the MotoGP™ field did a solid job of drying up the track just before, the conditions were good enough for riders to really push towards the end, with Lowes going even faster than his own benchmark from the morning. Martin made him work for it though and lost out by an infinitesimal few thousandths as the two traded fast laps at the end.

Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was third in FP2 as the Brit impressed to end the session just two tenths off his compatriot Lowes, with Augusto Fernandez taking fourth and up at the sharp end once again. Brno podium finisher Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing) completed the top five with a lap that proves valuable on the combined timesheets as he’d finished FP1 outside the top 14 – and therefore outside the Q2 graduation zone.

Kasma Daniel (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) crashed twice in FP2, and Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) had a run off.

After a day of changeable weather then, it’s Lowes in the driving seat on the combined timesheets ahead of Martin, both with laps from FP2. Bezzecchi takes third ahead of Fernandez, their laps set in the morning, with Jake Dixon’s afternoon heroics meaning the Brit completes the top five overall on Friday. Navarro, Gardner, Canet and Nagashima slot in from sixth to ninth courtesy of their FP1 laptimes, with Roberts’ FP2 best meaning he completes the top ten overall on Day1.

Baldassarri, Marini, Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Forward Racing) are the final four heading straight through to Q2 as it stands, and that leaves one unexpected name out of the graduation zone: Andalucia and Brno winner Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team), who was P16 overall…

Can the ‘Beast’ bounce back on Saturday? And will the weather afford him the chance? FP3 is the last opportunity for the field to get an automatic place in Q2, before qualifying from 15:10 (GMT +2).

Click here for combined timesheets

Moto2™: the five fastest on Friday
Sam Lowes – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Kalex – 1:28.985
Jorge Martin – Red Bull KTM Ajo – Kalex +0.010
Marco Bezzecchi – Sky Racing Team VR46 – Kalex +0.164
Augusto Fernandez – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Kalex +0.192
Jake Dixon – Petronas Sprinta Racing – Kalex +0.222
Arbolino on top in Austria
The Italian ends the day three tenths clear of the field as rain interrupts play in FP2

Tony Arbolino (Rivacold Snipers Team) topped the overall Moto3™ timesheets on Day 1 at the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, his FP1 time enough to keep him ahead of the game after rain interrupted action mid-way through FP2. John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) ends the day second overall although three tenths down, with Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) taking P3, just a few hundredths off the Scot. 

FP1

Arbolino took the baton in FP1, the Italian ending the session three tenths clear and looking dominant, although his best lap was also set behind Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) as he tucked into the Argentinean’s slipstream. McPhee was second, pipping Masia as it tightened up.

A few of the key contenders had laps interrupted after Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Raul Fernandez tucked the front at Turn 3 in the closing stages, causing some to have their final laps of the session cancelled as is now automatic under a Yellow Flag. In the end, Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46) and Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) completed a top five split by half a second, although Fernandez, his teammate Kaito Toba, Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia), Andrea Migno (Sky Racing Team VR46) and Championship leader Alberto Arenas (Valresa Aspar Team) made sure fourth to tenth was split by less than a tenth.

Rodrigo joined Fernandez as a crasher in the session, with BOE Skull Rider Facile Energy’s Riccardo Rossi also taking a tumble. There was also an incident for Jason Dupasquier (CarXpert PruestelGP) as he was passed by Carlos Tatay (Reale Avintia Moto3) before the latter had a moment, leaving the Swiss rider nowhere to go as he tagged the back of him and went down in a stroke of early bad luck in Austria.

FP2

As the skies and forecasts had been threatening, the afternoon saw the rain come down. Although it was lightly enough at first for the lightweight class, the flag flew to warn the riders just after half way through the session. McPhee was fastest at the time and remained so, but half a second down on Arbolino’s quickest lap from FP1.

Behind McPhee came Rodrigo, and he was one of the few to improve as he knocked half a second off his FP1 best early in the session. Masia was up there once again, with Czech GP winner Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) in fourth; another to improve in FP2. The fastest man in the morning, Arbolino, locked out the top five.

Despite the sketchy conditions, no one came off in FP2, with the lighter rain and then localised downpour on part of the track putting paid to any risk-taking.Heading into Saturday morning with a provisional place in Q2 are therefore Arbolino, McPhee, Masia, Vietti, Antonelli, Fernandez, Toba and Ogura from their FP1 times, with Rodrigo next up in P9 overall courtesy of his afternoon best. Migno, Arenas and Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) are tenth, 11th and 12th respectively, with Foggia slotting into 13th with his FP2 lap. Filip Salač (Rivacold Snipers Team) completes the provisional Q2 graduates.What will Saturday bring? Will FP3 shakes things up again or see the field face more rain? Moto3™ head back out at 9:00 (GMT +2), before qualifying decides the grid from 12:35.

Click here for combined timesheets

Moto3™: the five fastest on Friday

Tony Arbolino – Rivacold Snipers Team – Honda 1:36.550
John McPhee – Petronas Sprinta Racing – Honda +0.291
Jaume Masia – Leopard Racing – Honda +0.366
Celestino Vietti – Sky Racing Team VR46 – KTM +0.489
Niccolo Antonelli – SIC58 Squadra Corse – Honda +0.507
Dovizioso is back near the top after Day 1 in Austria
Nakagami completed the top three in another impressive 2020 performance
Flag-to-flag practice begins on Friday
The weather forecast for the rest of the Austrian GP weekend continues to confound, and flag-to-flag practice popped out to play on Friday. As Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) shows below, sometimes even premier class podium finishers – and Moto2™ World Champions – don’t quite get everything pitch perfect every time…

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