Corsi Hits The Front in Final Practice

Simone Corsi grabbed the advantage in final practice for the French Moto2 Grand Prix after a frantic end to the session.

Championship leader Stefan Bradl was quickest in both of Friday's sessions and looked set to do so again as he led the session entering the final five minutes.

Pons HP 40 rider Aleix Espargaro was the first to mount a challenge, first matching Bradl's 1:39.161 and then going 0.009s quicker. Thomas Luthi then became the first rider to break into the 1:38s with less than two minutes to go, but his stay at the front was short-lived as Corsi sneaked ahead with mere seconds remaining, setting a 1:38.888. Luthi's final lap was two hundredths of a second slower and the Interwetten Suter rider had to settle for second, just as he had in both of Friday's sessions.

Behind them, Scott Redding looked to have snatched third with a 1:39.148 but Bradl pipped him after the chequered flag had fallen. The German still topped the combined practice times after his Friday effort and will still be confident of taking his fourth pole position out of four in 2011.

Despite briefly topping the timesheets, the elder of the Espargaro brothers slipped from first to fifth, with Julian Simon, who was as high as third, also falling down the order to end up sixth.

Michele Pirro was the fastest Gresini rider in seventh as teammate Yuki Takahashi languished down in 17^th. Despite that, the Japanese rider was less than a second away from the fastest time of all, proving the closeness of the Moto2 field.

Two former 125cc stars were next up, with Marc Marquez eighth and Bradley Smith ninth for Tech 3. The Briton ran second to Bradl for most of the session before dropping back as many riders improved in the final moments.

Fresh from his best ever Moto2 result in Portugal, Dominique Aegerter rounded out the top ten for Technomag–CIP but Andrea Iannone's poor practice form continued with the Italian unable to do better than 16^th.

Kev Coghlan was just over two seconds off the pace in 35^th after failing to match his fastest time from Friday's second session.