Strong start at Sepang for second fastest Dixon
Jake Dixon topped FP1 before coming within 0.052s of top spot in Practice at a hot and humid Petronas Sepang International Circuit on Friday, while Filip Salac was a heroic 12th.
Weather complicated matters on Friday with the 5.54km Petronas Sepang International Circuit damp in patches but largely dry for both of the day’s Moto2 sessions.
An oil spillage in a session for another category over lunchtime delayed the afternoon running for Moto2. Rather than its original start time of 14.05, Practice got underway 35 minutes later at 14.40.
The pace was red hot on Friday with last year’s Moto2 lap record being broken by five tenths of a second in FP1.
Jake Dixon, 2nd – 2’04.218
Jake was immediately in the zone in FP1 on Friday morning, and broke the lap record by 0.5s to end the session 0.1s clear. His time of 2’04.131 was the fastest of the day.
The Briton started Practice by posting a strong 8-lap run. Three of his times were in the 2’04s in that time, which was competitive pace.
The 27-year old then struggled to find clean track in the final ten minutes of the session. Despite a few mistakes, Jake still set the 2nd quickest time of the afternoon, just 0.05s back of Manuel Gonzalez.
“It’s been a good start to the weekend in Sepang. But it was still a difficult day for everyone here in terms of how the conditions are and what the grip levels are like. My first run this afternoon wasn’t too bad. We came into the box and made a change and then I found quite a few yellow flags and I made a few mistakes in the second run. So, I think I only got around two clean laps in at the end. Tomorrow, we need to work on the rhythm a bit more and see where we’re at. But otherwise, we’ve been fast so far. I’m feeling good, feeling groovy and I can’t wait to jiggle my way through tomorrow!”
Filip Salac, 11th– 2’04.655
Despite feeling some pain in his right shoulder after a scary moment at Phillip Island, Filip was adamant he would ride this weekend and felt good on the bike from the first lap of FP1.
The Czech rider was competitive, too. He was 12th at the close of FP1, 0.9s off Jake’s new lap record.
And during a strong 8-lap run at the start of Practice, the 23-year old was able to post the 11th fastest time of Practice, which guarantees him a spot in Q2 on Saturday.
“It’s been a good first day here in Sepang. We went straight through to Q2 thanks to our time this afternoon. From the first lap this morning I was feeling good on the bike. The shoulder hurts a bit in the right-hand corners but here with the high temperatures my muscles are quite soft and stretched. That helps me a bit thankfully. Overall, I really enjoyed riding today and have the impression I can fight for a decent place on the grid tomorrow.”