Submitted by Zara Daniela on
Some sun was back on the menu and the intermediate class enjoyed the lunch special after a soggy breakfast with plenty of gravel for dessert. Splendid conditions welcomed riders for the frantic search for both rhythm and one lap speed in just 45 minutes, with different levels of success. Exquisite rookie Jorge Martin enjoyed Phillip Island in the sun after stealing the show in the wet and the Spaniard made sure that both of Friday’s sessions ended with his name at the top of the pile.
Brad Binder had an underwhelming start to his day in the tricky conditions of FP1 but was on a charge in FP2 to trail his leading teammate by three tenths of a second, in an impressive display from KTM. Jorge Navarro also stretched his legs in the afternoon session to split the KTM domination by adding his Speed Up machine to the mix in third place. Iker Lecuona lapped the circuit for the first time this weekend after cautiously sitting out FP1 and was quick to retrieve his speed for a top four, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi.
Tetsuta Nagashima was eager to find some speed with a view to limit the damage of his upcoming grid penalty and got as high as sixth in FP2, a hundredth of a second faster than Nicolo Bulega and another six hundredths on championship leader Alex Marquez. Jesko Raffin and Stefano Manzi rounded out the top ten, while Tom Luthi missed out by half a tenth. The other championship hopeful, Augusto Fernandez, finished his Friday another couple of positions back, behind Enea Bastianini and ahead of Lorenzo Badassarri – the Italian the last to join the provisional top 14.
Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 | Jorge MARTIN | KTM | 1'33.010 | ||
| 2 | 41 | Brad BINDER | KTM | 1'33.353 | 0.343 | 0.343 |
| 3 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | Speed Up | 1'33.405 | 0.395 | 0.052 |
| 4 | 27 | Iker LECUONA | KTM | 1'33.474 | 0.464 | 0.069 |
| 5 | 72 | Marco BEZZECCHI | KTM | 1'33.481 | 0.471 | 0.007 |
| 6 | 45 | Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | Kalex | 1'33.600 | 0.590 | 0.119 |
| 7 | 11 | Nicolo BULEGA | Kalex | 1'33.612 | 0.602 | 0.012 |
| 8 | 73 | Alex MARQUEZ | Kalex | 1'33.675 | 0.665 | 0.063 |
| 9 | 2 | Jesko RAFFIN | NTS | 1'33.728 | 0.718 | 0.053 |
| 10 | 62 | Stefano MANZI | MV Agusta | 1'33.803 | 0.793 | 0.075 |
| 11 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Kalex | 1'33.860 | 0.850 | 0.057 |
| 12 | 33 | Enea BASTIANINI | Kalex | 1'33.872 | 0.862 | 0.012 |
| 13 | 40 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | Kalex | 1'33.887 | 0.877 | 0.015 |
| 14 | 7 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Kalex | 1'33.906 | 0.896 | 0.019 |
| 15 | 21 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | Speed Up | 1'34.017 | 1.007 | 0.111 |
| 16 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Kalex | 1'34.102 | 1.092 | 0.085 |
| 17 | 64 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NTS | 1'34.140 | 1.130 | 0.038 |
| 18 | 16 | Joe ROBERTS | KTM | 1'34.153 | 1.143 | 0.013 |
| 19 | 87 | Remy GARDNER | Kalex | 1'34.179 | 1.169 | 0.026 |
| 20 | 10 | Luca MARINI | Kalex | 1'34.184 | 1.174 | 0.005 |
| 21 | 97 | Xavi VIERGE | Kalex | 1'34.291 | 1.281 | 0.107 |
| 22 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Kalex | 1'34.362 | 1.352 | 0.071 |
| 23 | 5 | Andrea LOCATELLI | Kalex | 1'34.453 | 1.443 | 0.091 |
| 24 | 54 | Mattia PASINI | Kalex | 1'34.525 | 1.515 | 0.072 |
| 25 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | MV Agusta | 1'34.887 | 1.877 | 0.362 |
| 26 | 65 | Philipp OETTL | KTM | 1'35.246 | 2.236 | 0.359 |
| 27 | 3 | Lukas TULOVIC | KTM | 1'35.336 | 2.326 | 0.090 |
| 28 | 96 | Jake DIXON | KTM | 1'35.756 | 2.746 | 0.420 |
| 29 | 35 | Somkiat CHANTRA | Kalex | 1'35.923 | 2.913 | 0.167 |
| 30 | 18 | Xavi CARDELUS | KTM | 1'36.696 | 3.686 | 0.773 |
| 31 | 47 | Adam NORRODIN | Kalex | 1'36.757 | 3.747 | 0.061 |
| 32 | 20 | Dimas EKKY PRATAMA | Kalex | 1'37.224 | 4.214 | 0.467 |
Comments
Lowes
Surely that move by Lowes before the checker on the front straight deserves a penalty. He intentionaly swerved accross the bow Raffin and almost caused a massive crash!!
That move was on par with Fenati's move last year. Disgraceful move!
Sam not happy
Sam Lowes was cranky about something that happened earlier in the lap. Whatever it was does not justify stupid behavior like that on the track.
S.Lowes deserves any penalty he gets in my opinion.
KTMs
Four KTMs in the top five in Moto2, four in the bottom 5 in MotoGP, and they're pulling out of Moto2. Makes perfect sense.