Jake Dixon continued his fine form in Argentina by qualifying 2^nd for Sunday’s 21-lap race, while Filip Salac enjoyed big improvements to place 6^th.

Despite spits of rain falling at the start of Moto2 Q2, conditions were dry for the 2^nd qualifying session of the year in northern Argentina.

Like Friday, temperatures were cooler than usual at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit. Ambient temperatures were just 21 degrees during Q2, a slight increase on yesterday.

Jake Dixon, 2^nd – 1’41.070

On the back of his strongest Friday of the year so far, Jake enjoyed an exceptional FP2 session. As well as setting the fastest time – a new lap record of 1’41.486 – his 17-lap race simulation was impressively consistent, with 13 of those laps in the 1’41s.

The 29-year old showed he meant business immediately in Q2 by breaking his own lap record on his 1^st flying lap. He was faster still on his 2^nd run to sit in 1^st place with just 2 minutes remaining.

Yet Manuel Gonzalez’s late effort pushed the Briton back to 2^nd. Just 0.2s was in it. This is Jake’s 1^st front row start since last year’s Japanese GP.

“Overall, it’s been a good day. We did a long run this morning which was really positive. And then qualifying also went well. I’m really happy with how the day went. I wanted to be on the first two rows and that’s what we achieved. Come tomorrow I want to aim for a top five and keep building from here. It’s a long season ahead. We still need to improve on some things. The team’s working great. I can’t thank them enough and I can’t wait for tomorrow!”

Filip Salac, 6^th – 1’41.193

Filip was keen to find improvements for some issues he felt on Friday. FP2 hinted the Czech rider had found them, as he placed 9^th, 0.3s back of his team-mate.

After experiencing a sub-optimal feeling with his front tyre at the start of Q1, the 23-year old switched rubber before posting his best time late on, which was good enough for 3^rd and a spot in Q2.

Filip then used his team-mate’s tow in the following session to book a place on the 2^nd row with the 6^th fastest time, just 0.3s off the pole position time.

“It’s been a good day here in Termas, especially after yesterday, which was a bit disappointing because we didn’t go directly through to Q2. But this morning’s session was really good. We had really good pace with Jake and there was some nice team work between us. We didn’t put a new tyre in like some others did as we knew we were fast. Then in Q1 my feeling with the front tyre wasn’t perfect so I pitted in for the second set of tyres. it was a bit stressful for me as I saw that the session was finished on my dash. Luckily, I had one more lap when I secured a place in Q2. I think it was more stressful for the team than me! Anyway, I was happy for it. Then we did another amazing job as a team in Q2. Jake’s on the first row, I’m on the second. We have an amazing base for tomorrow’s race and I think we can both do a good job.”