Manu González and Ángel Piqueras lead the Moto2 and Moto3 championships.
MADRID, 15 (EUROPA PRESS)
Spanish rider Marc Márquez (Ducati) was the fastest this Friday in MotoGP Practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, the thirteenth round of the World Motorcycling Championship, while fellow Spaniards Manu González (Kalex) and Ángel Piqueras (KTM), both record holders, dominated in Moto2 and Moto3, respectively.
Returning to action after almost a month of summer break, the Cervera native made the most of his 1:28.117 to lead Pedro Acosta (KTM) and his teammate, the Italian Francesco 'Pecco' Bagnaia (Ducati), by two tenths, while Alex Márquez (Ducati) and Raúl Fernández (Aprilia) completed the 'Top 5'.
After an initial free practice session dominated by the elder Márquez brother, the premier class activity at the Red Bull Ring resumed with the afternoon practice session, which began with a crash for the reigning champion, Jorge Martín (Aprilia), just after exiting Turn 9. Meanwhile, Maverick Viñales (KTM) was forced to stop after six laps due to pain in his left shoulder.
With Pedro Acosta (KTM) leading the timesheets past the halfway point, a crash by Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) brought out the red flag and halted the session for almost 20 minutes while the Turn 6 protection was replaced. Once the session restarted, Japanese rider Ai Ogura (Aprilia) took the lead, becoming the first rider to go under 1:29.
Frenchman Johann Zarco (Honda) took over with 12 minutes remaining, before Acosta again set the best time, but in the end it was the elder Márquez, with his 1:28.117, who ended up as the fastest rider on Friday.
In addition to the two Márquez riders, Acosta and Raúl Fernández, the top 10 riders also finished in the Q1 avoidance list: Joan Mir (Honda) in sixth; and Fermín Aldeguer (Ducati) in ninth. Jorge Martín (Aprilia) in sixteenth; Alex Rins (Yamaha) in seventeenth; and Viñales in twenty-first will also be battling for a place in Q2.
In Moto2, meanwhile, it was championship leader Manu González (Kalex) (Spaniard) who managed to climb to the top of the practice timesheets with a record time of 1:33.290. He thus beat his great rival for the championship, his compatriot Arón Canet (Kalex), who was 13 thousandths behind, and Iván Ortolá (Boscoscuro), 64 thousandths behind, rounding out the day's podium in the intermediate category.
Also securing their direct passage to Q2 were Marcos Ramírez (Kalex), seventh; Dani Holgado (Kalex), ninth; Albert Arenas (Kalex), tenth; Alonso López (Boscoscuro), eleventh; and Izan Guevara (Boscoscuro), thirteenth. Alex Escrig (Forward), nineteenth; Dani Muñoz (Kalex), twentieth; Jorge Navarro (Forward), twenty-second; Adrián Huertas (Kalex), twenty-fifth; and Unai Orradre (Boscoscuro), twenty-eighth, will have to go through Q1.
Finally, in Moto3, Spaniard Ángel Piqueras (KTM), second overall, was the fastest of the day at the Red Bull Ring with a record time of 1:39.918, which allowed him to place himself ahead of Argentine Valentín Perrone (KTM) and Japanese Ryusei Yamanaka (KTM), with the leader of the small displacement, José Antonio Rueda (KTM), finishing Friday in seventh position.
Other riders also made it into the Top 14, including rookie Máximo Quiles (KTM) in fourth; David Muñoz (KTM) in sixth; Adrián Fernández (Honda) in eleventh; David Almansa (Honda) in thirteenth; and Álvaro Carpe (KTM), third in the World Championship, in fourteenth.
