Leopard Racing’s Tatsuki Suzuki has taken over the ascendancy in Moto3™ after FP2 at the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Japanese rider became fastest overall through the two lightweight class sessions so far at the Sachsenring when he set a 1:26.363, while team-mate Dennis Foggia took third. The GASGAS Aspar Team’s Izan Guevara is through to Q2 as it stands, but his World Championship-leading team-mate Sergio Garcia has a little bit of work ahead of him in FP3 if he wants to do likewise.

Naturally, one of the key points in Friday Free Practice for the Moto3™ field was who would end the day in the combined top 14, and hence put provisionally themselves in position to earn a bye past Q1 come Saturday afternoon. That combined top 14, however, was exactly the same as the top 14 in FP1 until the last five minutes of FP2. That was when Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) elevated himself to fourth with a 1:26.842, knocking Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) back to 15th, but it was hardly the end of the story.

Last-start winner Guevara had been fastest for almost 37 minutes, as he pounded around the Sachsenring in what could have been a useful fact-finding exercise for Sunday’s race, until Suzuki made his mark. The Honda-mounted rider, who had an early run through the gravel at Turn 1,  punched out the aforementioned 1:26.363 to finally knocked the GASGAS pilot off his perch, before Foggia took up third with a 1:16.525. Guevara did not improve his time in FP2, but the 1:26.459 he set in FP1 was good enough for second overall.

Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power), on his second visit to the Sachsenring in the Moto3™ World Championship, took fourth on combined times on a 1:26.608 and John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) finished fifth courtesy of his 1:26.691 in FP1. Lorenzo Fellon (Sic58 Squadra Corse) made an almighty save into Turn 11 when he closed up on Alberto Surra (Rivacold Snipers Team) before setting a 1:26.768 later in the session which was good enough for sixth, one position up on Nepa. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3), who went for a bit of impromptu motocross in the gravel during the session, took eighth, ahead of Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) and David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports).

Masia got back into the top 14 with a 1:26.902 which was good enough for 11th, but Garcia found no improvement relative to his FP1 personal-best and sits 15th on combined times with one more Free Practice session to go, and Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) is 22nd after a crash midway through FP2.

Can they make their way into the automatic Q2 places? Find out when FP3 starts on Saturday at 09:00 (GMT +2).

Moto3™ Top 10 on Friday:
1. Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) – 1:26.363
2. Izan Guevara (GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.096
3. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) + 0.062
4. Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) + 0.245
5. John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 0.328
6. Lorenzo Fellon (Sic58 Squadra Corse) + 0.405
7. Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) + 0.479
8. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 0.493
9. Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) + 0.510
10. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) + 0.520