Inde GasGas Aspar’s Jake Dixon kicked off preparations for the Italian Grand Prix by commanding the Moto2 times on Friday.

The only intermediate rider to break the 1’52 barrier across the day’s two free practice sessions, Dixon’s 1’51.966 time was set on his 13th of 16 morning laps.

The Brit continued to hold court for the rest of the day’s action, remaining three-tenths clear of his closest rivals by the close of FP2 despite working on race pace for the second 40-minute session.
 
“Obviously this morning we put the time attack in and then this afternoon give us a bit of freedom to focus just on the overall race feeling and race pace,” Dixon divulged from Italy.

I'm really happy for this because before, I struggle in this situation when it becomes hot, but I found it gave us a good direction on what we need to do for the race. So I'm glad I did that and didn't put the new tyre in today.

“Really looking forward to tomorrow now. We have collected valuable data; I am looking forward to continuing this weekend and continuing to improve. The only negative of the day was Ayumu Sasaki's crash in Moto3. I hope he is OK.”