Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez return to the Red Bull Ring for the first two Free Practices for the Austrian Grand Prix and earn provisional spots in Q2.

The Moto2 World Championship returned to the Red Bull Ring track this Friday for the opening day of the Austrian Grand Prix. The Red Bull KTM Ajo team completed the first two Free Practice sessions of the weekend, improving their times from morning to afternoon. Remy Gardner was third in the combined FP1 and FP2 timesheets, with Raul Fernandez eighth. Both are provisionally through to Q2 tomorrow.

The duo took the weekend’s first Free Practice steadily, using the knowledge gathered last weekend at the Styrian Grand Prix at the same venue. Fernandez was just 0.3s off the best time of the session, stopping the clock at 1:29.215 for eighth position. The Spaniard completed 20 laps of the Austrian track, whilst teammate Gardner racked up 18. The Australian rider was 11th with a time of 1:29.281.

When FP2 began, the track had some small patches of surface water to contend with, due to the rain that had fallen a few hours before. However, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 pair adapted well and both managed to go faster than in the morning. Gardner was one step ahead of the rest of the field, topping the session with a 1:28.967 that he set on lap 18 of 21. Just one tenth behind, Fernandez was third thanks to a 1:29.154, completing 23 laps.

Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez will compete in FP3 tomorrow morning, in which they will continue working with their focus on the Austrian Grand Prix race. In the afternoon, Moto2 Q1 will start at 3:10 PM local time, followed by Q2 at 3:35 PM.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Ai Ogura (Kalex) 1:28.887
2. Augusto Fernandez (Kalex) 1:28.894 +0.007
3. Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:28.967 +0.080
4. Marcel Schrotter (Kalex) 1:28.988 +0.101
5. Marco Bezzecchi (Kalex) 1:29.015 +0.128
8. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:29.154 +0.267

87 REMY GARDNER

“It was a good day overall for us. Even so, FP2 was a bit tough, as there were some damp patches on the asphalt. We tried different settings, looking to take a step forward, although they didn’t end up working out as we expected. The important thing is that we know where we need to improve, so tomorrow we will continue to do our best to do a good job in qualifying. As always, I want to thank the team for their work.”

25 RAUL FERNANDEZ

“I am very satisfied with how the day went. Before starting this round, we did a ‘reset’ compared to last weekend and today I felt good on the bike. I am happy about it, as we have come back even stronger than we were before. We have to make an effort to keep this up and work hard tomorrow to get a great position in qualifying. We have a strong pace, so we will see what we are capable of doing.”