Battle lines have been drawn on our groundbreaking opening day at Goiânia in Moto2 with Tony Arbolino (REDS Fantic Racing) leading the way and a pack of surprises. Behind him, Buriram winner Manuel Gonzalez (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) and David Alonso (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) completed the top three in what turned out to be a Friday that featured all four seasons. A wet but drying morning followed by wind, spots of rain but overall dry running in the afternoon, Goiania’s unpredictability was mirrored by the weather.
An array of fresh names and faces made it into Q2 straight away but it was Arbolino who surprised the most by topping the day’s running. The Italian led the combined times courtesy of the afternoon’s Practice being the only dry track time but nonetheless, made the most of the evolving conditions to lead the Moto2 charge. Championship leader Gonzalez was right behind him, 0.170s off the #14 whilst it was Alonso who rounded out the top three.
Onto the surprises and it’s fair to say that Angel Piqueras (QJ MOTOR – PONT GRUP – MSI) was a headline-grabber in fourth as he took top rookie honours whilst Mario Aji (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) was fifth, repeating his efforts from Friday afternoon in Thailand. Celestino Vietti (HDR SpeedRS Team) rounded out the top six but suffered a late technical issue.
Notable names not in the top 14 such as Senna Agius (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) who was 16th, Aron Canet (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) in 18th and Daniel Holgado (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) in 20th, with the Spaniard struggling on day one in Goiania after his podium from Buriram. There was a late crash for Zonta Van den Goorbergh crash at Turn 13.
Head to the full results from Moto2 Practice in Brazil and get ready for more on Saturday as the grid gets set from 13:40 (UTC -3) local time.