Niccolò Antonelli closes as the leader of FP2, realizing the best time this Friday. Second place for Toba, followed by Italians Bastianini, Arbolino, and Bezzecchi.
This Friday in Le Mans takes Niccolò Antonelli’s name: the Sic58 Squadra Corse rider wins thanks to an excellent 1:42.596, not only the best time of the session but the best time of the whole day. After him comes Kaito Toba (who fell during the last lap after hitting his teammate) and then the Italians Enea Bastianini, Tony Arbolino and the World Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.
Good news is that Sasaki stood out on track again after a violent high-side this morning, luckily with no serious consequences. We also witnessed Di Giannantonio’s return to action, as his Honda has been fixed after the fall that forced him to end his FP1 earlier. A few minutes after the beginning, on Turn 3, Migno slipped but managed to get back on his bike. At the same time, another Italian rider, Arbolino, temporarily took the lead ahead of Masia and Canet. Other riders fell too, among them Rodrigo and Dalla Porta, the latter because of a violent high-side at the Raccordement. Both riders have been taken to the Medical Center for check-ups.
This round of Free Practice was going to end with an all-Italian top 4, but in the last few laps something changed: Niccolò Antonelli finished first, but only 48 thousandths after him we find Kaito Toba, who managed to overtake Enea Bastianini, Tony Arbolino, and Marco Bezzecchi right before slipping on the “S” Bleus after hitting Atiratphuvapat. Aron Canet got the 6th place ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Tatsuki Suzuki, while the last two positions in the top 10 belong to Phillip Oettl and Jorge Martin.
Here the other Italian riders’ positions: Andrea Migno is just one position out of the top 10, Nicolò Bulega arrived 13th, Lorenzo Dalla Porta 17th, and Dennis Foggia 25th.
The ranking
