Jake Dixon enjoyed a strong start to his last Grand Prix in Marc VDS colours, placing 7^th and 2^nd in Friday’s two Moto2 sessions, while Filip Salac ended the day 15^th.

The Ricardo Tormo Circuit just outside Valencia hosted a day of Grand Prix action for the first time since 2023 on Friday with the weather cool but dry for Moto2’s two sessions.

FP1 was red-flagged after a few minutes due to damp patches on the inside of Turn 6, causing three riders to crash. After a 30-minute delay, the session restarted.

The speed was red-hot throughout Friday with the previous lap record from 2023 smashed by 0.3s in FP1 and a whopping 0.9s in the afternoon Practice session.

Jake Dixon, 2nd – 1’32.531

Jake started his final weekend as a Moto2 rider in strong fashion by setting the 7^th fastest time in FP1, just 0.3s off Alex Escrig’s new lap record.

Recognising rear tyre wear needed work, Jake produced a 16-lap run in Practice and was able to do a highly competitive 1’33.563 time with 16 laps on his tyres.

The Briton then reemerged late on to shatter the previous lap record by half a second, and finish just 0.1s off pace setter Dani Holgado.

“It was a really, really good day! It’s obviously my final Friday in Moto2. So, I put a real big effort, like always, into putting as many laps in as possible. Last week I just didn’t have the rhythm of the other riders so today I made a real conscious effort to work for the end of the race and to improve our tyre conservation because I feel we’ve been dropping a bit too much. We’ve just got to go for it this weekend. In Portimao I was second in every session before the race and then didn’t have the Sunday I expected. But here we’re in the top three and in the fight. I’m giving my absolute everything, as I always do, and enjoying every moment out there. But I’ve got even more determination this weekend to be in that fight for my last Moto2 win this weekend. I’ll go into Saturday with a smile on my face, take the handlebars and just wring its neck! Let’s see what we can do.”

Filip Salac, 15th – 1’32.857

In his final weekend in Marc VDS colours, Filip didn’t enjoy an ideal start to the day as he crashed out on a damp patch at Turn 6 in FP1. That limited him to 18^th place.

The Czech rider showed decent speed in the afternoon. Despite not having an ideal feeling with the front end of his bike, he could consistently lap in the 1’33s in the first half of Practice.

Moto2 times were tight throughout the day and even though Filip was just 0.4s off the fastest time, he was 15^th. An agonising 0.004s separated him, 14^th and an automatic spot in Q2 tomorrow.

“It was a difficult day. The conditions weren’t perfect in the morning. With the wet spot there in Turn 6 unfortunately I had a crash on it. So, we didn’t have so much track time. In the afternoon my feeling with the bike was so-so. I was struggling a bit with the feeling of the front. That part of the bike was a little high and I didn’t have the perfect feeling. In my fastest lap I did a big mistake in the last corner, which cost me a place in Q2. I’ll give my everything tomorrow like we did in the past. Let’s see how we get on.”