Beaubier 13th, Injured Roberts 24th On Opening Day At Portimao

Cameron Beaubier finished opening day in Portimao with the 13th best Moto2 lap on Friday. File photo courtesy of American Racing.

Cameron Beaubier returned to the site of his first career Moto2 top-10 finish today, the American Racing rider ending the opening day of practice for the Grand Prix of Algarve in Portimao, Portugal in 13th place. Italtrans Racing’s Joe Roberts, meanwhile, returned to action with his surgically repaired broken collarbone to end up 24th.

Beaubier was strong all day as his second race weekend at Portimao got rolling. The Californian, who finished ninth in round three of the World Championship in Portugal back in April, ended Free Practice 1 in 11th with a 1:44.177 lap. He improved his time in FP2 by .424 of a second but dropped two spots in the combined results to end the day in 13th.

Roberts chopped .668 of a second off his FP1 time in FP2 to complete his day with a best of 1:44.498, which put him 24th on Friday.

The day was led by Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Raul Fernandez with the Spaniard lapping at a best of 1:43.246 to edge Elf Marc VDS Racing’s Sam Lowes by just .002 of a second. Remy Gardner, who can wrap up the Moto2 World Championship with a victory on Sunday if his teammate Raul Fernandez finishes worse than second, ended the day third fastest but with a crash on his final lap of FP2.

Beaubier’s best lap is just .507 off Fernandez’s best on Friday.