Fermín Aldeguer has been linked to Repsol Honda in MotoGP for 2024, but he shows total focus on Moto2. This Friday, he led the first practice of the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.
Throughout the 40-minute session, it was almost always a Spanish rider holding the best time. After the initial laps, the leader was Manuel González (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team/Kalex), who was overtaken by Alonso López (Beta Tools SpeedUp/Boscoscuro) before regaining the position… only to lose it again, this time to Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex).
González reacted immediately to return to the top of the time sheet, where he stayed for over 20 minutes until being overtaken by Acosta again. The championship leader was dethroned by Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp/Boscoscuro). However, he lost the position to Jake Dixon (Inde GasGas Aspar/Kalex) less than a minute later.
In his penultimate lap, Aldeguer clocked a time of 2m06.183s to definitively take the first place, being 60 thousandths of a second faster than Dixon. Acosta finished third, 0.455s behind, with the top five closed by Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia/Kalex) and Dennis Foggia (Italtrans Racing Team/Honda). Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex), who seeks to keep the title fight open, started the Grand Prix with the 13th place in this opening practice.
In the final minutes, there was a scary crash involving Sean Dylan Kelly, but the Forward Team rider managed to get up, albeit somewhat shaken.
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