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Practice report

Qatar Moto3: Fernandez fastest in Friday practice

KTM Ajo’s Raul Fernandez led the opening day of running for the 2020 Moto3 season, after surging to top spot late on in FP2 for the Qatar Grand Prix.

Raúl Fernández, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Raúl Fernández, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The coronavirus outbreak has led to the Qatari government imposing new travel and quarantine measures, which meant the opening round of the year has had to go ahead without MotoGP on the bill.

The Moto3 field was first out on track on Friday at Losail, with last year’s Valencia Grand Prix winner Sergio Garcia guiding his Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda to the top of the pile late on with a 2m05.407s lap. 

One-time grand prix winner Tatsuki Suzuki shadowed him at the end of the 40-minute outing aboard the SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda, while Alonso Lopez rounded out the top three in his first official session with the Max Racing Husqvarna squad.

VR46 rider Andrea Migno took the ignominious honour of becoming the first crasher of 2020 when he tipped off at Turn 11 in the early stages. Albert Arenas (Aspar KTM) was the other faller in FP1 at Turn 16.

Fernandez was a low-key 15th in the first session, but went to the top of the pile at the start of the FP2 with a 2m05.743s.

His teammate Kaito Toba – who has switched from Honda Team Asia this season – would set the best time of the day with around 17 minutes to go with a 2m04.988s.

This was usurped by former teammate Ai Ogura (Team Asia) in the closing stages with a 2m04.698s, though Fernandez would resume control on his final attempt with a 2m04.577s. 

Darryn Binder – younger brother of factory KTM MotoGP rider Brad – was second overall on his CIP KTM, with FP1 pacesetter Garcia completing the top three on combined times.

Ogura was shuffled back to fourth after the final salvo, with Toba, Arbolino, Migno, Leopard Honda’s new signing Jaume Masia, the second Max Racing bike of Romano Fenati and rookie Deniz Oncu rounding out the top 10 for Moto3 debutant team Tech 3.

After suffering in injury in the pre-season, SIC58’s Niccolo Antonelli will sit out this weekend’s action.

FP2 results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 25 Spain Raúl Fernández
KTM 2'04.577
2 40 South Africa Darryn Binder
KTM 2'04.698 0.121
3 11 Spain Sergio García
Honda 2'04.723 0.146
4 79 Japan Ai Ogura
Honda 2'04.922 0.345
5 27 Japan Kaito Toba
KTM 2'04.988 0.411
6 14 Italy Tony Arbolino
Honda 2'05.227 0.650
7 16 Italy Andrea Migno
KTM 2'05.287 0.710
8 5 Spain Jaume Masia
Honda 2'05.332 0.755
9 55 Italy Romano Fenati
Husqvarna 2'05.348 0.771
10 53 Turkey Deniz Öncü
KTM 2'05.355 0.778
11 17 United Kingdom John McPhee
Honda 2'05.383 0.806
12 13 Italy Celestino Vietti Ramus
KTM 2'05.502 0.925
13 92 Japan Yuki Kunii
Honda 2'05.587 1.010
14 99 Carlos Tatay
KTM 2'05.598 1.021
15 82 Italy Stefano Nepa
KTM 2'05.612 1.035
16 2 Argentina Gabriel Rodrigo
Honda 2'05.622 1.045
17 75 Spain Albert Arenas
KTM 2'05.668 1.091
18 24 Japan Tatsuki Suzuki
Honda 2'05.758 1.181
19 12 Czech Republic Filip Salač
Honda 2'05.765 1.188
20 52 Spain Jeremy Alcoba
Honda 2'05.779 1.202
21 7 Italy Dennis Foggia
Honda 2'05.862 1.285
22 21 Spain Alonso López
Husqvarna 2'06.024 1.447
23 6 Japan Ryusei Yamanaka
Honda 2'06.086 1.509
24 89 Malaysia Khairul Idham Pawi
Honda 2'06.117 1.540
25 71 Japan Ayumu Sasaki
KTM 2'06.270 1.693
26 9 Italy Davide Pizzoli
KTM 2'06.295 1.718
27 73 Austria Maximilian Kofler
KTM 2'06.981 2.404
28 50 Jason Dupasquier
KTM 2'07.268 2.691
29 54 Italy Riccardo Rossi
KTM 2'07.374 2.797
30 60 Dirk Geiger
KTM 2'07.713 3.136
31 20 Spain Jose Garcia
Honda 2'08.302 3.725

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