Moto3 COTA FP1: Niccolo Antonelli fastest in a wet FP1

October 1, 2021 EMR Writer

Niccolo Antonelli was the fastest rider in FP1 as MotoGP returns to COTA.

Niccolo Antonelli led the way in a wet FP1 session in Moto3 as the MotoGP crowd returns to COTA for the first time in 2 1/2 years, the rain greeted the travelling circus with open arms handing many riders an extra surprise of rain on top of having to learn the circuit with at least 11 Moto3 riders making their COTA debut this weekend.

Antonelli braved the rain and went fastest ahead of Filip Salac by a small margin of 0.102 seconds, the KTM boys not showing too much fear as they posted lap times of 2m 30+ seconds which is unheard of these days in MotoGP, the pair finished ahead of a Snipers duo in P3 and P4. Snipers Honda riders Alberto Surra and Andrea Migno finished within the top 5 with Surra seriously impressing at the track in his debut here in the USA after only ever riding the game in the video game, this start to the weekend is perfect after the pair were confirmed to race for the Snipers team for 2022.

Tatsuki Suzuki rounds out the top 5 a monumental 0.998 seconds to Migno ahead of him and 1.402 seconds to P1, this is majorly due to the rain and we can expect the grid to dramatically close up come race day which is expected to be dry, Romano Fenati and Sergio Garcia finished just behind, Garcia suffering a huge crash and was unable to stand up for a little while, thankfully the title fighter is OK and is expected to run in FP2 later today after being passed FIT to ride.

Rounding out the top 10 were Binder, Guevara and Rossi, Guevara yet another rider making his debut here, he is on a strong run of form at the moment and could be challenging for his first podium this weekend.

Pedro Acosta has adapted fairly well to the circuit placing in P11, the rain allowing the riders to ride without too much pressure and just concentrate on finding the ideal lines, fellow title fighter Dennis Foggia finished in P19 4.152 seconds from P1.

Full results –