The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 duo finish first and third, respectively, on the combined FP1 and FP2 timesheets.

The Aragon Grand Prix got off to a good start for Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2, who had both of their riders in the Top 3 on Friday. Remy Gardner was the fastest competitor on the combined FP1 and FP2 timesheets, having headed the afternoon session. Raul Fernandez was third, overcoming discomfort in his right hand following surgery last week.

Sunny conditions kicked off FP1, with a dry track for the riders to make the most of it, and Gardner took steady steps forward throughout the session. On his last attempt of a total of 15, he set a 1:53.988 that placed him fifth. Teammate Fernandez took things calmly, due to his recent operation to treat a small fracture to his fifth right metacarpal. The rookie eventually finished seventh – 1:54.099 – and completed a total of 10 laps.

In the afternoon, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 pair made great progress, riding faster than their morning times. Gardner was one step ahead of the rest of the field and topped the session thanks to a personal best time of 1:52.743. The Australian put in 16 laps of MotorLand. Fernandez was third thanks to a 1:52.845 from 10 laps, despite sitting out part of the practice to keep his hand strong.

The last Free Practice of the weekend takes place tomorrow morning. In the afternoon, Q1 will get underway at 3:10 PM, followed by Q2 at 3:35 PM.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:52.743
2. Augusto Fernandez (Kalex) 1:52.750 +0.007
3. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:52.845 +0.102
4. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Kalex) 1:52.848 +0.105
5. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:52.971 +0.228

87 REMY GARDNER

“It was a good day for us. MotorLand Aragon is a track that I usually find hard, but the important thing is that we improved the bike between Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2. We finished first, but we have to keep pushing to continue taking steps forward tomorrow morning. I’m happy and I want to thank the team for all the work they did.”

25 RAUL FERNANDEZ

“Overall, it was a positive day. The most important thing on Friday was to see how my hand was, since it has been very few days since the operation. We needed to see how we felt on the bike, to find out if we were ready to endure Sunday’s race. That was our goal for today, and now that we have overcome it, tomorrow we will try to qualify well in order to be able to fight on Sunday in the contest.”