Although Saturday’s Moto3 Free Practice 2 session no longer determines direct entry into Q2, riders were still pushing to improve on their Friday times. The Mugello circuit saw significantly faster laps in the cooler morning conditions, with British rider Scott Ogden setting the benchmark.

Tigth battle between Ogden and Almansa

Ogden put in an impressive performance, achieving a time of 1:55.249 — the fastest lap of Free Practice 2 on his very last try. He edged out David Almansa by just 0.042 seconds. Almansa was the only Honda rider to finish inside the top ten in FP2. All other bikes were KTM powered.

Completing the top three was Angel Piqueras, although he was 0.308 seconds behind Ogden. The young Spaniard showed consistent form throughout the session with his lap times.

Rookies Carpe and Munoz go top five

Red Bull’s rookie, Alvaro Carpe, raised a few eyebrows with his lap times. He finished fourth and showed he can adapt quickly. David Muñoz, who had a moment earlier in the session and ran wide into the gravel, recovered well to jump into top 5. This comes after he didn’t even manage a top 14 finish yesterday, meaning he will need to go through Q1 in qualifying.

Top ten finishers

Joel Kelso finished sixth, followed by Ryusei Yamanaka and José Antonio Rueda on another KTM bike. Two more rookies completed the top ten, with Guido Pini and Maximo Quiles in ninth and tenth respectively.

Issues for Carraro

Nicola Carraro had to pull off the track due to a technical issue, repeating the same misfortune he suffered on Friday. He still remains inside the provisional Q2 group based on yesterday’s times though.

All to play for in qualifying

For Ogden, it marks the first ever dry session he topped in Moto3. With no major incidents in Free Practice 2, it remains a question how the qualifying will go – especially the first part.