After a relatively quiet Friday, Sergio García showed he could be competitive at the Red Bull Ring by breaking the Moto2 lap record during the Practice 2 for the Austrian GP this morning.
Just over five minutes into the session, the championship leader took the lead for the first time, but was soon overtaken by his MT Helmets/MSi teammate, Ai Ogura. The lead kept changing hands in the following minutes until, with just under 12 minutes on the clock, García set the new lap record: 1m33.461s.
With this, the Spaniard beat Filip Salac (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex) by 0.163s. At that moment, the Czech rider was leading, but he didn’t improve further, finishing in second place. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex) recorded the third fastest time, followed by Arón Canet (Fantic Racing/Kalex) and Ogura, completing the top five ahead of Manuel González (QJMotor Gresini/Kalex).
All the riders improved compared to the first practice session, making this session the one that determined the 14 riders directly advancing to the second qualifying session. Marcos Ramírez (OnlyFans American Racing Team/Kalex), in 14th place, secured the last spot by just 0.060s ahead of Izan Guevara (CFMOTO Inde Aspar/Kalex). Among the other riders relegated to Q1, Fermín Aldeguer (Sync SpeedUp/Boscoscuro) stood out, finishing only 24th.
This session was interrupted with a red flag following a crash by Ogura at turn two, less than ten minutes before the end. However, the rider walked away with no major injuries and returned to the pits on his own.
Timesheets:
A new all time #Moto2 lap record and P1 for @garciadols11 🔥
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 17, 2024
A fantastic 2nd and 3rd for @ElfMarcVDS with @FilipSalac12 and @TonyArbolino 🙌#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/G8KSpAXyb4
