Louis Rossi - Photo Credit: MotoGP.com
Louis Rossi carried the momentum from his maiden victory at Le Mans to top Friday practice at the Catalunya Grand Prix. The Frenchman dominated the afternoon session to turn the tables on Maverick Vinales who'd set the pace in the morning.
Rossi only needed eight minutes of the second session to beat Vinales' benchmark from FP1, setting a 1:53.121 to go fastest ahead of Romano Fenati. At this point, the Racing Team Germany rider had half a second in hand over the rest of the field before Danny Kent and Sandro Cortese closed the gap on the Red Bull Ajo KTMs but no sooner had they done that, Rossi broke into the 1:52s to pull further clear.
With four minutes remaining, Vinales came to life with a 1:52.901, three hundredths quicker than Rossi, but the status quo was restored almost instantly as Moto3's newest race winner clocked a 1:52.624, quick enough to see off the Spaniard despite a late improvement from him.
Sandro Cortese joined the top two in the 1:52s with almost seven tenths separating the leaders from the rest of the field. The chasing pack was led by Miguel Oliveira who edged in front of Kent and Fenati for fourth while Hector Faubel and Zulfahmi Khairuddin completed the top eight. Efren Vazquez was one of six riders who went slower in the afternoon session and paid the price, dropping from seventh to ninth.
Racing as a wildcard this weekend, British youngster John McPhee finished the day in an impressive 20th while Mahindra's Danny Webb was 23rd on a bike fitted with an updated engine.
Moto3 Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya – Combined Friday Practice Times
| Pos | Rider | Motorcycle | Team | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Louis Rossi |
FTR Honda | Racing Team Germany | 1:52.634 |
| 2 |  Maverick Viñales |
FTR Honda | Blusens Avintia | +0.150 |
| 3 |  Sandro Cortese |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +0.284 |
| 4 |  Miguel Oliveira |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +0.960 |
| 5 |  Danny Kent |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +0.992 |
| 6 |  Romano Fenati |
FTR Honda | Team Italia FMI | +1.041 |
| 7 | Hector Faubel |
Kalex KTM | Bankia Aspar Team | +1.142 |
| 8 |  Zulfahmi Khairuddin |
KTM | AirAsia-Sic-Ajo | +1.213 |
| 9 | Efren Vazquez |
FTR Honda | JHK T-Shirt Laglisse | +1.355 |
| 10 | Luis Salom |
Kalex KTM | RW Racing GP | +1.455 |
| 11 | Alexis Masbou |
Honda | Caretta Technology | +1.538 |
| 12 | Alessandro Tonucci |
FTR Honda | Team Italia FMI | +1.769 |
| 13 |  Jack Miller |
Honda | Caretta Technology | +1.774 |
| 14 |  Jakub Kornfeil |
FTR Honda | Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta | +1.778 |
| 15 | Alberto Moncayo |
Kalex KTM | Bankia Aspar Team | +1.798 |
| 16 | Niccolo Antonelli |
FTR Honda | San Carlo Gresini Moto3 | +1.854 |
| 17 | Alex Rins |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +1.894 |
| 18 | Alex Marquez (WC) |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +2.121 |
| 19 |  Brad Binder |
Kalex KTM | RW Racing GP | +2.217 |
| 20 | John McPhee (WC) |
KRP Honda | Racing Steps Foundation KRP | +2.255 |
| 21 |  Niklas Ajo |
KTM | TT Motion Events Racing | +2.265 |
| 22 | Jonas Folger |
Ioda | IodaRacing Project | +2.345 |
| 23 | Danny Webb |
Mahindra | Mahindra Racing | +2.565 |
| 24 | Alan Techer |
TSR Honda | Technomag-CIP-TSR | +2.576 |
| 25 |  Jasper Iwema |
FGR Honda | Moto FGR | +2.591 |
| 26 | Isaac Viñales |
FTR Honda | Ongetta-Centro Seta | +2.652 |
| 27 | Ivan Moreno |
FTR Honda | AndalucÃa JHK Laglisse | +2.701 |
| 28 | Adrian Martin |
FTR Honda | JHK T-Shirt Laglisse | +2.979 |
| 29 | Arthur Sissis |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +3.299 |
| 30 |  Giulian Pedone |
Suter Honda | Ambrogio Next Racing | +3.356 |
| 31 | Marcel Schrotter |
Mahindra | Mahindra Racing | +3.463 |
| 32 | Simone Grotzkyj |
Suter Honda | Ambrogio Next Racing | +3.503 |
| 33 | Luigi Morciano |
Ioda | Ioda Team Italia | +4.091 |
| 34 |  Kenta Fujii |
TSR Honda | Technomag-CIP-TSR | +4.883 |
| 107% Time: 2:00.518 (+7.884) | ||||
