Jake Dixon made good on his Friday potential by qualifying for Sunday’s Catalan GP in 2^nd position while Filip Salac was a strong 7^th.

Like Friday, conditions were perfect throughout Saturday at the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya, with the day’s sessions taking place under clear skies and high temperatures.

Saturday’s Q2 session was extremely competitive with the top ten riders lapping under the previous absolute circuit record.

Sunday’s Moto2 race will take place over 21 laps and gets underway at 12.15 local time.

Jake Dixon, 2nd – 1’41.629

Jake and his crew tweaked his setting for the morning FP2 session to work on improving rear tyre life. After placing 9^th, he concluded it was better to revert to his original setting.

The Briton was quick out of the box in Q2 as he went fastest with his first flying lap of the session.

The 29-year didn’t feel the same grip on his second run, meaning he was unable to improve late on. Even if Dani Holgado demoted him to 2^nd by just 0.08s, Jake is confident of fighting at the front on Sunday.

“I said to the team this morning that a place on the front two rows was the aim. We tried a few things this morning to help with the tyre life. Some things were positive, and others less so. We went back to what we know and from the off I was fast. I didn’t have anything more after I set my best time. I didn’t have the same grip on my second run as my first run. I did a super clean lap with one or two small mistakes, but I don’t think there was much more to give if I’m being honest. Super happy to be where I am and looking forward to tomorrow. It’ll be a long race – and a tough one for tyre life. I’m not completely sure how our tyre will hold up. But if there’s anyone that can manage it, it’s me so let’s see how it goes. It’ll not be about pure speed, but more who can look after their tyre. It’s like a chess match, and I usually like it this way.”

Filip Salac,7^th – 1’41.837

After a solid first day, Filip and his crew decided to do a longer run in FP2 to check his speed on used tyres. The Czech rider was 8^th at the close of the session.

The 23-year old was quickly in the zone in Q2. After setting a promising first lap of the session, Filip was under the previous circuit record on his second.

While he was unable to get a clean lap in his second run, he was content to secure a place on the 3^rd row, just 0.28s off pole.

“It was a good day today. This morning we decided to try a longer run to check our pace for tomorrow’s race. It wasn’t ideal because we made some changes to the bike, which weren’t perfect for the tyres. But we know what to do for the race. In qualifying I was able to fight for the front row. In the end we were seventh on the third row, which is a good base for tomorrow. Let’s see what we can do in the race because I think the potential is there to fight for the top five.”