Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) left it until his final lap of the day to climb to the top of the Moto3™ Friday Free Practice timesheets at the Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, as the Japanese rider’s 1:37.797 was enough to beat Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) by 0.189s. FP1 pacesetter Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) completes the top three on Friday on his first visit to Phillip Island.  

After a damp and slow start to FP2’s proceedings, Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) popped up with a time good enough for P2 on the combined standings with 16 minutes to go, signalling there was plenty of pace available in the closing stages. With a fully dry line appearing, the Spaniard set a 1:39.401 on his next flying lap to go nearly 0.4s clear of the chasing pack.

The times kept tumbling with home hero Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) climbing to P2, but the Australian was over three tenths shy of Garcia – the latter now down to a 1:39.051 with just under 10 minutes to go. And with some fresh tyres fitted, conditions much improved and eyes firmly on automatic Q2 qualification, we were treated to a frantic final five minutes.

Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing), Garcia and Suzuki quickly exchanged P1, Sasaki joined in on the fun to go top of the pile, but Suzuki made sure that was only a brief stay at the summit for his compatriot. Crucially, after an FP1 crash, World Championship leader Izan Guevara (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) pounced up to P4 with less than a minute left on the clock, as Sasaki unravelled a great final sector to pinch P1 from Suzuki as the chequered flag signalled the end of the session.

Guevara and the GASGAS Aspar team will be happy with P4 at the end of the first two Free Practice sessions after a trickier than hoped start on Friday morning. His two closest challengers, Garcia and Foggia, sit P5 and P6 at the end of play, with Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team), Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team), Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Adrian Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Tech3) completing the top 10.

Tune into Moto3™ FP3 at 09:00 local time (GMT+11) on Saturday morning to see if the combined times change ahead of qualifying. 

Top 10 combined:
1. Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) – 1:37.797
2. Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) + 0.189
3. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) + 0.408
4. Izan Guevara (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.533
5. Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.558
6. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) + 0.669
7. Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) + 0.741
8. Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) + 0.756
9. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.779
10. Adrian Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Tech3) + 0.827