After rain affected yesterday’s session, Arón Canet was the fastest rider in the second practice of the Qatar Moto2 Grand Prix… setting a new lap record for the category at Losail.
The Spanish rider from Fantic Racing was already leading after the initial laps, before being surpassed by Zonta van den Goorbergh (RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP/Kalex). The Dutch rider held the lead for over 20 minutes before being overtaken by Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia/Kalex).
Just towards the end, Canet clocked a time of 1m57.176s to outpace the Thai rider by 0.249s and set a new lap record. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex) finished third, with Fermín Aldeguer (Sync SpeedUp/Boscoscuro) in fourth after being the fastest in yesterday’s free practice. Ai Ogura (MT Helmets-MSi/Boscoscuro) completed the top five.
In the battle for direct qualification to Q2, the last to make it was Izan Guevara (CFMoto Aspar/Kalex) with the 14th fastest time. He was just 0.089s ahead of Barry Baltus (RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP/Kalex). Among the other riders who will have to go through Q1, notable mentions include Jake Dixon (CFMoto Aspar/Kalex), last year’s fourth-place finisher.