With a high chance of rain on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, Friday’s lap times from FP2 may end up being what seeds the Moto2 field directly into Q2. If that’s the case, then American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier and Italtrans Racing’s Joe Roberts are in a good position as the pair ended opening day in seventh and 13th, respectively.
Beaubier improved his best lap from FP1 to FP2 by .648 of a second to slot himself into seventh after the two sessions on Friday. Meanwhile, Roberts took 1.2 seconds off his FP1 time in Q2 to end up 13th. Beaubier’s best was a 1:35.022 while Roberts lapped at 1:35.217.
With the exception of Zinia GASGAS Aspar’s Jake Dixon, all 30 riders improved their times from the first to the second session.
IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia’s Somkiat Chantra led opening day with his 1:34.353 just .055 of a second ahead of his teammate Ai Ogura. Championship leader Augusto Fernandez was third fastest on his Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex. The top 10 are separated by just .795 of a second.
Beaubier’s American Racing teammate Sean Dylan Kelly ended Friday in 26th.
