Izán Guevara was the fastest rider in the session that determined the 14 riders who will advance directly to Q2 in the qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, the 18th round of the season. In the session held in the early hours of Friday morning (23) at Phillip Island Circuit, the rider posted his best lap time of 1:30.016.
Senna Agius secured second place, finishing just 0.018 seconds behind Guevara. David Alonso was the third fastest, followed by Daniel Holgado in fourth. Interestingly, these four riders will be on the MotoGP grid in 2027. The group of the five fastest also included Filip Salac.
Alonso López closed the session in sixth position, ahead of Alex Escrig, seventh fastest in the activity. Championship leader, Manuel González, finished eighth, ahead of Adrian Huertas, who was the fastest in the first practice session of the weekend and ninth in this session. Taiyo Furusato completed the list of the ten quickest.
The list of riders who advanced directly to Q2 also included four more competitors. Joe Roberts advanced with 11th place, ahead of Mario Aji, 12th fastest in the session. Barry Baltus progressed in 13th position during the early-morning session, while Ayumu Sasaki completed the group of 14 qualifiers.
The session featured several crashes. At nine minutes, David Muñoz suffered a high side at turn 11 of the circuit. Shortly after, at 11 minutes, Aron Canet crashed at the same spot on the Australian track. A little later, at turn 6, Sergio García went down. With 20 minutes on the clock, Daniel Holgado fell from his bike at turn 10. At the end of the session, Ayumu Sasaki crashed, a crash that also involved José Antonio Rueda.
The Moto2 action returns to the track later on Friday, first at 19:25 with the final free practice of the weekend and, afterwards, with the qualifying, scheduled for 23:40. The Australian Grand Prix will be contested on Saturday at 22:15.
