Lap times improved and Jaume Masiá led the second practice session of the Moto3 Japanese GP, which took place on Friday at the Mobility Resort Motegi.
As rain is a possibility for tomorrow, riders had to secure a spot in the top 14 in this session, so time attacks began early. The first leader was Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo), ahead of Masiá (Leopard Racing/Honda), with Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in third.
The next leader was Holgado, who, in the second flying laps, was superior to Masiá and Ivan Ortolá (Angeluss MTA Team/KTM). Times continued to progress, and Masiá was the next to lead, with Öncü placing second. The leaderboard changed again 22 minutes before the end when Holgado took command once more.
With 15 minutes to go, there was another change in the lead when Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) arrived at the top. Shortly afterward, his teammate Ayumu Sasaki moved up to second.
In the final five minutes, the battle for fast laps intensified, with Holgado once again taking the lead. However, Diogo Moreira’s time (MT Helmets-MSi/KTM) in the first practice session was only beaten later. Three minutes before the end, a series of improvements saw three riders beating that lap time, with Ortolá moving to the top.
However, he was then passed by Masiá, who clocked a time of 1m57.081s. The Spaniard improved slightly to 1m57.068s and stayed in the lead with a 0.108s advantage over Ortolá. Sasaki, Holgado, and Öncü completed the top five. After leading, Veijer finished 14th, with only 28 thousandths of a second ahead of 15th-placed David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports/KTM). The Dutch rider missed out on direct qualification for Q2 and will be hoping for a sunny Saturday morning in Motegi to keep his hopes alive.
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