John McPhee sprung a surprise in Friday Practice ahead of the Valencian Grand Prix by topping the timesheets in mixed conditions, leading a Caretta Technology 1-2. The Briton switched to slicks in the closing minutes to go fastest on a 1:50.503, edging out teammate Jack Miller who’d taken a similar gamble.
As has so often been the case in 2012, Friday was dominated by the weather with rain falling throughout FP1. Miguel Oliveira set the pace but conditions were much improved in the afternoon and Jonas Folger soon overtook the Portuguese overall. Oliveira briefly regained the lead but Folger was in dominant mood, pulling out a lead of three quarters of a second.
The Aspar rider looked set to remain unbeaten but the decision from others to try out the slick tyres saw him demoted in the final minute. Alex Marquez was the first to go quicker on the Ambrogio Suter Honda but McPhee pulled out half a second on the pair of them, breaking into the 1:50s.
Jack Miller had been setting red sector times on the second Caretta bike but came up short by 0.027s. The Italian team weren’t concerned by that though as they celebrated a rare 1-2, even if it was only Friday afternoon. Marquez finished third ahead of Brad Binder who snuck ahead of Folger while Maverick Vinales, still a contender for the runner-up spot in the championship, sixth quickest.
Zulfahmi Khairuddin was seventh on the leading factory KTM with Moto3 champion Sandro Cortese eighth. Future Moto2 teammates Louis Rossi and Danny Kent completed the top ten while Danny Webb impressed on the uncompetitive Mahindra, finishing the day in thirteenth.
 Moto3 GP Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana: Combined Friday Practice Times |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Motorcycle | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 |  John McPhee |
KRP Honda | Caretta Technology | 1:50.503 |
| 2 |  Jack Miller |
Honda | Caretta Technology | +0.027 |
| 3 |  Alex Marquez |
Suter Honda | Ambrogio Next Racing | +0.684 |
| 4 |  Brad Binder |
Kalex KTM | RW Racing GP | +0.690 |
| 5 |  Jonas Folger |
Kalex KTM | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | +0.835 |
| 6 | Maverick Vinales |
FTR Honda | Blusens Avintia | +0.880 |
| 7 |  Zulfahmi Khairuddin |
KTM | AirAsia-Sic-Ajo | +1.207 |
| 8 | Sandro Cortese |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +1.285 |
| 9 |  Louis Rossi |
FTR Honda | Racing Team Germany | +1.352 |
| 10 | Danny Kent |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +1.647 |
| 11 | Adrian Martin |
FTR Honda | JHK t-shirt Laglisse | +1.746 |
| 12 | Luis Salom |
Kalex KTM | RW Racing GP | +1.842 |
| 13 | Danny Webb |
Mahindra | Mahindra Racing | +1.998 |
| 14 |  Miguel Oliveira |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +2.010 |
| 15 | Arthur Sissis |
KTM | Red Bull KTM Ajo | +2.171 |
| 16 |  Jakub Kornfeil |
FTR Honda | Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta | +2.420 |
| 17 | Alan Techer |
TSR Honda | Technomag-CIP-TSR | +2.433 |
| 18 | Efren Vazquez |
FTR Honda | JHK t-shirt Laglisse | +2.440 |
| 19 | Hector Faubel |
FTR Honda | Andalucía JHK t-shirt Laglisse | +2.493 |
| 20 |  Giulian Pedone |
Suter Honda | Ambrogio Next Racing | +2.559 |
| 21 |  Alessandro Tonucci |
FTR Honda | Team Italia FMI | +2.560 |
| 22 | J.F. Guevara (W) |
FTR Honda | Wild Wolf BST | +2.630 |
| 23 | Romano Fenati |
FTR Honda | Team Italia FMI | +2.702 |
| 24 |  Niklas Ajo |
KTM | TT Motion Events Racing | +2.966 |
| 25 | Alex Rins |
Suter Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | +2.973 |
| 26 | Philipp Oettl (W) |
Kalex KTM | HP Moto Kalex | +3.541 |
| 27 | Josep Rodriguez |
FGR Honda | Moto FGR | +3.853 |
| 28 | Niccolo Antonelli |
FTR Honda | San Carlo Gresini Moto3 | +3.915 |
| 29 | Luca Amato |
Kalex KTM | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | +4.007 |
| 30 | Toni Finsterbusch |
Honda | Cresto Guide MZ Racing | +4.156 |
| 31 | Luigi Morciano |
Ioda | Ioda Team Italia | +4.959 |
| 32 | Miroslav Popov |
Mahindra | Mahindra Racing | +5.106 |
| 33 |  Kenta Fujii |
TSR Honda | Technomag-CIP-TSR | +5.375 |
| 34 | Isaac Vinales |
FTR Honda | Ongetta-Centro Seta | +5.484 |
| 35 | Armando Pontone |
Ioda | IodaRacing Project | +5.750 |
