The Spanish Acosta and Masiá were the best in Moto2 and Moto3
MADRID, 8 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) in MotoGP, the Spanish Pedro Acosta (KTM) in Moto2 and the also Spanish Jaume Masiá in Moto3 were the fastest on Friday in the first contact with the San Marino Grand Prix, twelfth round of the World Championship, on a Misano circuit where there is still much to see and decide.
There was an absolute track record in the premier category and it was signed by Marco Bezzecchi who is Ducati from Mooney VR46, achieving a 1:30.8460 with which he entered, for now, in the history of Misano. And with this he prevented the Spaniards Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) and the ‘wildcard’ Dani Pedrosa (KTM) from setting the best time.
It was a busy Practice session (after the change in training format, the only one that gives access to Q2) and with falls in the final minutes, such as those of Raúl Fernández (Aprilia) or the Pol Espargaró brothers (GasGas) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia).
Aleix, winner of the race and the sprint in the last Catalunya Grand Prix, arrives at a Misano track that does not bring out the best in the Aprilia and, this Friday, he crashed at turn 15 when trying to improve a ‘ Practice’ that had him in provisional tenth position. In the end, he was twelfth behind his brother.
Without a doubt, Bezzecchi’s record will be in the spotlight, but much merit was had in the session starring Dani Pedrosa, who led the batch on several occasions despite racing as a guest this weekend. But his kilometers on the KTM as a tester and his talent, which remains intact, leave him in the leading group for the moment.
After Bezzecchi, Viñales and Pedrosa, they completed the ‘Top 10’ and with this they will be directly in Q2 – without going through Q1 – the Spanish Jorge Martín (Ducati), the Italian Luca Marini (Ducati) and the Spanish Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda), who took advantage of the slipstream of his former teammate Dani Pedrosa to be sixth. And he thanked him with affectionate blows on the helmet at the end of the Practice.
The Italian Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati) was sixth, almost a miracle after his ugly fall and run over in Montmeló. Uncomfortable on the bike, with unusual positions for him, in the end he found a good rhythm for one lap. Eighth was Álex Márquez (Ducati), ninth Brad Binder (KTM) – relieved to see Bagnaia, whom he passed over, in action – and tenth the Spanish Raúl Fernández.
SPANISH POWER IN MOTO2 AND MOTO3
Pedro Acosta, from Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex), was the best on Friday and with overwhelming superiority. The one from Mazarrón, Moto3 world champion in 2021 and current leader of the intermediate category, gained more than half a second on the Italian Celestino Vietti and seven tenths on the British Jake Dixon.
The Spanish Alonso López (Boscoscuro) was fourth, 711 thousandths behind Acosta, while Arón Canet, Fermín Aldeguer, Jeremy Alcoba and Manuel González occupied 11th to 14th place, with Canet using the best time of the first session.
In Moto3, the best of the day after the first two free practice sessions was the Spanish Jaume Masiá, from Leopard Racing (Honda), with 75 thousandths of an advantage over the Japanese Ayumu Sasaki (Husqvarna) and 129 over the Turkish Deniz Öncü (KTM) .
Masiá, third in the Championship, one point behind Öncü, left the current leader of the small category far away, the Spanish Daniel Holgado (KTM), who took thirteenth position, 6 tenths behind the Valencian. Eleventh was Suzuki (Honda), the only one that did not improve the morning time in FP2.