The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 duo take part in the FP1 and FP2 at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit and improve times from morning to afternoon.

The Ricardo Tormo Circuit hosts a Moto2 World Championship round for the second consecutive week, and the Valencia Grand Prix began today with the first two Free Practice sessions. Red Bull KTM Ajo enjoyed dry conditions in FP1 and FP2, managing to improve their times from morning to afternoon. Jorge Martin was focused on working with the race in mind, and set the 12th best lap on the combined timesheets for Friday. The Spaniard took a provisional spot in Q2. Tetsuta Nagashima was 22nd.

In the morning, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 duo were able to resume the work plan for dry conditions that rain did not allow them to complete last week. Martin finished 14th in a session in which he took continuous steps forward, setting his best time on his 18th and last attempt: a 1:35.304. Only 4 tenths separated the Spaniard from the top spot. Nagashima was 0.3 seconds behind his teammate after stopping the clock at 1:35.626, earning him 19th. The Japanese completed 19 laps in FP1.

In FP2, both Martin and Nagashima made notable improvement, lowering their times from morning to afternoon. The Spaniard was 7th quickest with a 1:35.094, two tenths off the pacesetter. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider laid down 17 laps in the session, as did teammate Nagashima. The latter finished in 22nd position through a 1:35.580, but was only 0.6 seconds off the top place.

Tomorrow morning sees FP3 round off the Free Practice runs. Moto2 Q1 will start at 3:50 pm, and at 4:15 pm pole position will be decided in Q2.

Results – FP1 & FP2
1. Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) 1:34.855
2. Luca Marini (Kalex) 1:34.880 +0.025
3. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Speed Up) 1:34.893 +0.038
4. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:34.957 +0.102
5. Marcel Schrotter (Kalex) 1:35.004 +0.149
12. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:35.094 +0.239
22. Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:35.580 +0.725

88 JORGE MARTIN

“I’m very happy with how the day went. We focused on working with our sights set on the race. We reached some good conclusions and have made several changes, which have given me a lot of confidence. I feel prepared for Sunday. We have to improve our explosiveness a little over a single lap, but I am convinced that we can do that tomorrow.”

45 TETSUTA NAGASHIMA

“Today we were able to try many new things, and we finally have found the right way to go in order to improve. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as I felt good in the final part of the FP2, although we had a bit of bad luck due to the traffic on the track. On Saturday we will continue working hard to be able to do a great job in qualifying.”