MotoGP Austin: Beaubier hits Moto2 top three, Aldeguer fastest on Friday

MB Conveyors’ Fermín Aldeguer continued his strong season with the fastest Moto2 lap at COTA on Friday.

Elf Marc VDS’ Tony Arbolino and home hero Cameron Beaubier completed the top three with Shimoko Aspar’s Jake Dixon just 0.007s adrift as the opening action came to a close.

The intermedia class was first out on track as Friday’s MotoGP schedule got the green light at Circuit of the Americas. A trio of home talent delighting the fans as Sean Dylan Kelly made his world championship debut on US soil alongside American Racing teammate Beaubier and Italtrans’ Joe Roberts.

Barry Baltus started his FP1 in the gravel as Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes then Tony Arbolino took turns at the top of the initial standings. The Red Bull KTM Ajo duo Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez joining the fight second time around with the Flexbox Pons pair Aron Canet and Jorge Navarro doing likewise on lap three.

Arbolino continued to advance the pace as the session bedded in, 2’12.510 the target after ten minutes on track with Marcel Schrotter sitting second on the Liqui Molly Intact GP. Beaubier split the Ajo riders from fourth as looked to prove last season’s top five was far from a one off, with Jake Dixon narrowly adrift in sixth.

Current and former Marc VDS riders Arbolino and Fernandez continued to bicker at the top as the session played out. Acosta consolidating fourth, just half a second adrift as Canet and Navarro dropped Beaubier to seventh. Dixon improved his time to retain his hold on the top eight, one second off the current benchmark with Lowes circulating in 12th at the halfway stage, before the younger Brit lost the front and slid his GasGas Aspar out at the final sector.

Beaubier was back out front as he challenged for position, Fernandez