Moto3 Qatar FP2: 2019 winner Kaito Toba leads the session
Kaito Toba leads the way in the FP2 session of the Moto3 class in Qatar.
Kaito Toba emerges on top during the FP2 session at Qatar as 23 riders go within 1 second of him, the Japanese rider took the victory at the circuit just two years ago in 2019 and certainly knows his way around the track. He was able to lead the field as the times significantly drop as we saw 5 riders behind Toba within 0.102 of his time proving how unbelievably competitive the class is this year.
Toba was able to lead Spaniard Jaume Masia who broke the lap record here just a week ago with a time more than 0.600 faster than his time set in today’s FP2 session meaning there is more left in the bag for Masia to come and take pole position tomorrow ahead of the race, the duo lead Moto3 veteran Gabriel Rodrigo who was pipped by many of the MotoGP riders to be a title contender this year, the Spanish/Argentine rider finishing within 0.068 of Toba.
Sergio Garcia is another rider impressing this year, he is riding for the Aspar team who are running the Gas Gas Moto3 bikes and are triple champions in 2020 winning the Moto3 title as well as the CEV Moto3 and European Talent Cup titles he finishes in P4 ahead of Jason Dupasquier who is showing he has some speed locked away somewhere despite not scoring a single point in his rookie Moto3 season despite finishing every race, he has finished testing very close to the front and has impressed in day 1 at Qatar in P5.
In the top 10 there are 4 riders who really do need to impress this year to secure a Moto2 ride otherwise it could be the end of the road in Moto3 for these riders this year, these riders clearly have become aware of this and have made their way to the top of the timesheets with Rodrigo in P3, Antonelli in P6 moving back to the KTM chassis, McPhee in P8 and Migno in P9 who moves to a Honda, all these riders are at least 24 years old and need to prove themselves this year as the talent coming through the ranks and the sheer speed of the 2021 rookies will mean that lots of teams will be looking at the FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship for the 2022 season.
Sandwiched between these veterans is the 2019 FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Champion Jeremy Alcoba who was able to beat his teammate Rodrigo in 2020 taking a podium and 7 more points than his experienced teammate, Alcoba is a clear example of what is coming up through the ranks.
Austrian Maximilian Kofler is another rider who we didn’t talk about much in 2020, the Austrian rider did not score any points but is showing some speed this year taking P10 in the FP2 session and is only 0.268 from P1, further down the order we saw title competitors Dennis Foggia in P12, Darryn Binder in P15 with FP1 leader Pedro Acosta just ahead in P14.
In P19 sits rookie Xavier Artigas, the Spanish rider is the teammate to Foggia in the Leopard squad and already has a Moto3 podium to his name in the class and was just 0.720 from P1 ahead of the 2020 FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Champion Izan Guevara in P20.
Full results:
Featured image – www.motogp.com
