Moto2 COTA FP2: Raul Fernandez leads on track debut

October 1, 2021October 1, 2021 EMR Writer

Raul Fernandez leads FP1 at COTA despite not riding here on a Moto2 previously.

Honestly at this point we do not know how he does it, despite not riding here since his rookie Moto3 season in 2019, Raul Fernandez has ridden into COTA and taken P1 in FP1 with incredibly limited experience at this track, this follows a stunning MotoGP RC16 test at Misano where he put in some seriously impressive times before coming back to Moto2 and blasting his way into P1, there’s some raw talent there!

Fernandez topped an ever-changing session which saw many riders start on wet tyres before swapping over to the preferred slicks as the track consistently dried up, this meant that we saw the top spot change a number of times with many riders leading the session including Aldeguer, Ramirez, Syahrin, Arbolino and more with Fernandez the fastest man over Bo Bendsneyder in second place only 0.197 seconds separating the two.

Running in third just behind Bendsneyder was American Racing’s Marcos Ramirez who will be running the stars and stripes come Sunday following the unveiling of the teams special livery, this boost of it being his teams’ home race has aided him to place third only 0.014 seconds behind Bendsneyder and 0.026 seconds faster than Marcel Schotter in fourth as Augusto Fernandez rounds out the top 5, the Marc VDS man confirming that the top 5 was his target for this weekend.

In sixth we saw the Aspar linked Jake Dixon lead home hero Cameron Beaubier, Beaubier has completed countless laps around COTA on the Yamaha R1 which has been likened to the Moto2 machine for its power delivery and feel of the bike, P7 is a strong start for the home rider who leads fellow rookie Tony Arbolino.

Rounding out the top 10 were Hafizh Syahrin and Aron Canet, Syahrin once again enjoying the tricky conditions of the session with title leader Remy Gardner in P11 ahead of Albert Arenas. Sam Lowes made his way to P14 ahead of Marco Bezzecchi in P18 and Jorge Navarro down in P22 following some issues with his bike.

Full results –