Pol Espargaro topped the Friday Practice timesheets for the sixth race running after a superb morning performance at Brno. The Spaniard actually set the pace for an eleventh straight Friday session before Thomas Luthi took over in the afternoon, albeit slower than Pol’s FP1 effort.
The Swiss rider, whose championship hopes have faded recently, was the prominent rider the morning session having taken the lead from Scott Redding eight minutes in and held it throughout. In fact, it wasn’t until Espargaro’s final lap of the session that the leadership changed hands as the Pons Kalex rider pipped him by a tenth of a second.
Luthi was dominant once again in FP2 but this time he wouldn’t be overhauled. Alex de Angelis pulled out a four tenth lead after his first run before losing the lead to Luthi at the halfway point. The 2:03.103 lap which topped the session would prove to be his last though with the Interwetten rider slid off at turn three. Thomas was unhurt, but his bike was in no state to re-join the action.
With both sessions combined, Espargaro edged out Luthi by two hundredths of a second despite the Spaniard finishing fifth in the afternoon with De Angelis’ afternoon effort enough to secure third. Scott Redding picked up where he left off in Indianapolis with a strong fourth in front of but Marc Marquez was unusually quiet, finishing sixth in both sessions.
Andrea Iannone and Mika Kallio set identical times to finish seventh and eighth with 125cc champion Nicolas Terol ninth ahead of Claudio Corti whose biggest impact was made on the trackside safety fences after a crash in the morning. After a nightmare time in America, Bradley Smith showed improved pace to go eleventh overall and he was joined in the top dozen by Gino Rea who shone in the second session.
Moto2 bwin Grand Prix Ceske Republiky: Combined Friday Practice Classification
Pos | Rider | Constructor | Team | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pol Espargaro | Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | 2:03.084 |
2 | Thomas Luthi | Suter | Interwetten-Paddock | +0.019 |
3 | Alex De Angelis | FTR | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +0.102 |
4 | Scott Redding | Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | +0.313 |
5 | Simone Corsi | FTR | Came IodaRacing Project | +0.337 |
6 | Marc Marquez | Suter | Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol | +0.415 |
7 | Andrea Iannone | Speed Up | Speed Master | +0.542 |
8 | Mika Kallio | Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | +0.542 |
9 | Nicolas Terol | Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | +0.598 |
10 | Claudio Corti | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | +0.605 |
11 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +0.747 |
12 | Gino Rea | Suter | Federal Oil Gresini | +0.772 |
13 | Dominique Aegerter | Suter | Technomag-CIP | +0.791 |
14 | Johann Zarco | Motobi | JIR Moto2 | +0.794 |
15 | Axel Pons | Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +0.835 |
16 | Takaaki Nakagami | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | +0.859 |
17 | Max Neukirchner | Kalex | Kiefer Racing | +0.860 |
18 | Esteve Rabat | Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +0.918 |
19 | Jordi Torres | Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | +1.146 |
20 | Julian Simon | Suter | Blusens Avintia | +1.196 |
21 | Mike Di Meglio | MZ-RE Honda | MZ Racing | +1.326 |
22 | Anthony West | Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | +1.354 |
23 | Xavier Simeon | Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +1.560 |
24 | Ratthapark Wilairot | Suter | Thai Honda PTT Gresini | +1.637 |
25 | Randy Krummenacher | Suter | GP Team Switzerland | +1.640 |
26 | Ricard Cardus | AJR | Arguiñano Racing Team | +1.679 |
27 | Yuki Takahashi | FTR | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +1.995 |
28 | Roberto Rolfo | Suter | Technomag-CIP | +2.030 |
29 | Marcel Schrotter | Bimota | Desguaces La Torre SAG | +2.912 |
30 | Alessandro Andreozzi | Speed Up | S/Master Speed Up | +3.331 |
31 | Marco Colandrea | FTR | SAG Team | +3.775 |
32 | Eric Granado | Motobi | JIR Moto2 | +4.106 |
33 | Elena Rosell | Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | +5.968 |