Ajo Academy rider improves morning time by almost a second in afternoon at MotorLand Aragon.

Tetsuta Nagashima, the Ajo Academy’s Moto2 European Championship representative in the FIM CEV Moto2 series, kicked off a wildcard appearance at the Aragon Grand Prix on Friday. The Japanese rider made significant strides forward throughout the day, learning and improving with every lap and clocking a FP2 time almost a second quicker than his previous best lap. Nagashima finished twenty-fourth on the first day of practice.

Nagashima completed 20 laps in the morning at a good pace, especially during the first part of FP1. At the beginning of the session he achieved his best time, stopping the clock at 1:56.213, and was able to run a steady pace close to that time. After a stop in the garage in the middle of the session, Nagashima was unable to improve his top lap.

The Japanese rider applied what he had learned in the first session to improve substantially in the second. The Ajo Academy man made steady progress during the first few laps and by the halfway mark had lowered his morning time by almost half a second. The improvement continued after a long pit stop, and he ended the day with a promising 1:55.327 time.

Tomorrow at 3:05pm local time, Nagashima will participate in qualifying for the Moto2 Aragon Grand Prix –competing against the best riders in the class for grid positions.

Results (Combined practice time FP1-FP2)
1. Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) 1:53.702
2. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:53.787 +0.085
3. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 1:53.793 +0.091
4. Jonas Folger (Kalex) 1:53.898 +0.196
5. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 1:53.953 +0.251
8. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) 1:54.164 +0.462
24. Tetsuta Nagashima (Ajo Motorsport Academy) 1:55.389

45 TETSUTA NAGASHIMA

“I felt very good out on track. It was amazing. All of the riders are very fast -especially Zarco. I was passed by him a few times, I tried to follow him and I couldn’t do so, but this is normal. I have not set a very good time today and I have not been sufficiently consistent with my pace, but this means I can still improve a lot. Compared to the FIM CEV, the engine is very different; it’s much faster. Tomorrow I want to lower my time considerably, but this means we have to find a good setup for the bike with qualifying in mind, and I have to adapt my style. The goal is still to enjoy this weekend and try to get into the points.”