2024 Japanese Moto2 - Friday Practice Results

Friday belonged to a much improved Filip Salac, who topped both of the Friday sessions to finish the opening day top as Moto2 started their second flyaway round, with the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

After leading the way in the mixed conditions of Free Practice, Salac was once again ready to compete in the drying P1 after another early shower in the session, moving  from ninth to lead with a new lap record which the Elf Marc VDS rider then dropped further to finish with a best of 1m 49.716s.

Indonesian race winner and polesitter Aron Canet came closest to matching the Czech rider, finishing just 0.046s slower for Fantic Racing.

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The top three was completed by another rider hitting form late in the season, with Marcos Ramirez a close third for American Racing.

Championship leader Ai Ogura was the best of the Boscoscuro riders on home soil, in fourth for MT Helmets - MSI.

Izan Guevara improved in the afternoon to be fifth quickest for CFMoto Inde Aspar, their highest placed rider, with Jake Dixon eighth.

Between them on the timesheets, Deniz Oncu was the top performing rookie in sixth for Red Bull KTM Ajo, with Fermin Aldeguer struggling to find the vital thousandths needed to progress in seventh for Speed Up.

Joe Roberts took his cherry blossom themed special helmet to ninth after some late improvements with American Racing, while Tony Arbolino completed the top ten on the second Marc VDS bike as his teammate lead the way.

Diogo Moreira was eleventh on his return with Italtrans after missing the last round, and was the first rider just outside half a second of the new record best in a close session.

Celestino Vietti was an early pacesetter but slipped back to twelfth for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

The remaining two provisional progression slots are held overnight by Alonso Lopez and Albert Arenas.

Zonta Van Den Goorbergh just missed out as one of several riders to fall in the tricky weather of P1, with Darryn Binder first to slip off, Ayumu Sasaki was in the gravel at the same time as the rider from the Netherlands. Arenas took a trip across the gravel and grass but rejoined.

Sergio Garcia, who lead the championship for much of the season looked to have a better weekend on the cards in ninth in free practice, but had slipped back to 17th in P1.

Free Practice was crash heavy at the start, as the riders got to grips with the damp track. Filip Salac finished the session on top, just ahead of Ogura, with Ramirez third.

Garcia’s was the first bike in the gravel,later having a mechanical just before the chequered flag. Despite this the Spaniard was still inside the top ten in FP. He was swiftly followed by Tony Arbolino into the gravel. The Italian had a heavier fall later on, leaving him to watch as his time slipped from first to 13th.

Dennis Foggia was stuck in the gravel soon after, with a final late fall for Fermin Aldeguer.

Moto2 has one absentee - Somkiat Chantra, who was due to start for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia at the home round for the team. After being declared fit on arrival following his contact with Aldeguer in Indonesia, he picked up an additional sickness bug between rounds. There are no replacements for injury or additional wildcard entries this round.