Moto2 in Brno: Alonso ahead of Salac and Gonzalez, concerns over Barry Baltus

Following the rookies, it was the turn of the riders in the middle GP category to establish the pecking order shortly after 2 pm. One challenge in the battle for the top 14 positions for the second qualifying session was the temperature. The track surface had warmed up by 20 degrees compared to FP1 on Friday morning. Spanish rider Alonso Lopez did not take part in the Moto2 qualifying session, having withdrawn due to illness shortly before it began.

The session was barely ten minutes old when the red flag had to be brought out. Fantic ace Barry Baltus had crashed at Turn 13. Once track safety had been restored, proceedings resumed swiftly. Initially, there was no precise information on the condition of the Belgian rider who had crashed. Baltus was taken to the Medical Centre for treatment.

The standings after the first few laps: David Alonso ahead of Filip Salac and Senna Agius. Salac, a hero to the fans at the track, had already lifted the mood with his podium finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix and had also shone in FP1 with the second-fastest time. Only Intact GP’s star rider, Manuel Gonzalez, had once again been faster. In qualifying, the World Championship leader was in 8th place when the session resumed.

Ahead of Gonzalez were Ortola, Holgado, Guevara and Escrig – the strongest riders from the recent events. Last year’s winner and Salac’s team-mate, Joe Roberts, initially failed to make the top 14.

It was a very different story for another winner from last year. Moto3 World Champion Jose-Antonio Rueda, who triumphed in the Czech Republic 11 months ago, moved up to 6th place halfway through qualifying. Just three minutes later, the fast rookie from the Ajo team went too far: a crash at Turn 11.

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Whilst Rueda tried in vain to get his Kalex back on track, Pramac rider Izan Guevara Alonso set out to snatch the fastest time from Alonso. But the Colombian’s time of 1:58.511 minutes held. The time set by the Aspar team’s rising star was just 0.2 seconds off the Moto2 lap record.

The atmosphere in the Speed-Up team’s pit, home to World Championship third-place finisher Celestino Vietti, was tense ahead of the session’s finale. As the final 10 minutes began, the Italian was languishing in a precarious 14th place.

Moto2-Spitzenreiter Manuel Gonzalez

Foto: Gold and Goose

The scorching track seemed to be preventing any improvements, but things got exciting again in the final three minutes. Alex Escrig improved his time to take 4th place. Following improvements by rookie Furusato and Collin Veijer, championship leader Gonzalez had dropped back to 11th place. But Gonzalez struck back, clocking 1:58.9 minutes to take 6th place. Meanwhile, his team-mate Senna Agius had managed to climb as high as 4th. Yet Gonzalez did not give in – on his penultimate lap, he moved up to P3.

Nothing else changed at the top. Alonso, who had led for almost the entire session, finished the Brno opener with the fastest time – ahead of the Czech rider Filip Salac. Salac’s team-mate Joe Roberts, in twelfth place, also achieved his goal for the day. Celestino Vietti was in luck; 14th place was still enough to secure direct qualification.