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Luthi Claims Narrow Advantage in Second Practice

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Thomas Luthi ended Friday afternoon at the top of the timesheets for the German Moto2 Grand Prix in another fiercely close practice session at the Sachsenring. The Swiss rider emerged from the middle of the pack to go quickest with four minutes to go but several men were within touching distance of his 1:25.458.

The closest of them was Aleix Espargaro and he was very close indeed, finishing just two thousandths of a second shy of Luthi's benchmark. This meant that despite being just 0.010s adrift, Yuki Takahashi had to settle for third after leading for much of the session.

Scott Redding was another rider to get to within a tenth of the ultimate pace as the Briton looks to turn around his miserable season so far. His lap of 1:25.529 was good enough for fourth, pushing championship leader Stefan Bradl down to fifth.

The German gave the home crowd something to cheer when moved to the front of the field with a quarter of an hour to go and although he dropped down the order, the gap to Luthi was just a tenth of a second.

The one concern for Bradl may be that he didn't enjoy the same advantage over championship rival Marc Marquez that he had this morning. The Mugello winner, who trails Bradl by 52 points, was hot on the heels of the Kalex rider in sixth, as was Bradley Smith in seventh.

The Briton was another to top the timesheets during the session but any hopes he had of ending it there disappeared following a trip through the turn one gravel trap late on, but he still held off Julian Simon who impressed again in eighth.

After going quickest in the morning, Alex de Angelis could only manage ninth in the afternoon as he failed to match his FP1 effort. Mika Kallio did make strides though and moved to within a couple of tenths of the pace in tenth.

Simone Corsi was 13th but remains seventh in the combined classification but his teammate Mattia Pasini had a huge scare when he slid off at the high-speed turn 11, fortunately escaping injury.

 

Combined Friday Practice Times:

Pos Rider Nat Bike Team Time/Gap
1 Thomas Luthi SWI Suter Interwetten Paddock Moto2 1:25.458
2 Aleix Espargaro SPA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 +0.002
3 Yuki Takahashi JAP Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 +0.010
4 Scott Redding GBR Suter Marc VDS Racing Team +0.071
5 Alex de Angelis RSM Motobi JIR Moto2 +0.084
6 Stefan Bradl GER Kalex Viessman Kiefer Racing +0.119
7 Simone Corsi ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project +0.169
8 Marc Marquez SPA Suter Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol +0.170
9 Bradley Smith GBR Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing +0.174
10 Julian Simon SPA Suter Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 +0.189
11 Mika Kallio FIN Suter Marc VDS Racing Team +0.302
12 Claudio Corti ITA Suter Italtrans Racing Team +0.335
13 Michele Pirro ITA Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 +0.375
14 Jordi Torres SPA Suter Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 +0.572
15 Yonny Hernandez COL FTR Blusens-STX +0.622
16 Andrea Iannone ITA Suter Speed Master +0.641
17 Jules Cluzel FRA Suter NGM Forward Racing +0.652
18 Pol Espargaro SPA FTR HP Tuenti Speed Up +0.680
19 Max Neukirchner GER MZ-RE Honda MZ Racing Team +0.718
20 Esteve Rabat SPA FTR Blusens-STX +0.778
21 Xavier Simeon BEL Tech 3 Tech 3 B +0.782
22 Anthony West AUS MZ-RE Honda MZ Racing Team +0.864
23 Mattia Pasini ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project +0.877
24 Dominique Aegerter SWI Suter Technomag-CIP +0.942
25 Alex Baldolini ITA Suter NGM Forward Racing +0.957
26 Mike Di Meglio FRA Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing +0.982
27 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR Suter Technomag-CIP +1.206
28 Ratthapark Wilairot THA FTR Thai Honda Singha SAG +1.228
29 Randy Krummenacher SWI Kalex GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing +1.274
30 Kenny Noyes USA FTR Avintia-STX +1.293
31 Ricard Cardus SPA Moriwaki QMMF Racing Team +1.340
32 Axel Pons SPA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 +1.660
33 Valentin Debise FRA FTR Speed Up +1.700
34 Robertino Pietri VEN Suter Italtrans Racing Team +1.813
35 Carmelo Morales SPA Suter Desguaces La Torre G22 +2.922
36 Santiago Hernandez COL FTR SAG Team +2.961
37 Mashel Al Naimi QAT Moriwaki QMMF Racing Team +3.433
38 Tommaso Lorenzetti ITA FTR Aeroport de Castello +3.834
39 Steven Odendaal (WC) RSA Suter MS Racing +3.848
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