Stefan Bradl takes to the track this weekend under intense pressure but you wouldn't have believed it on Friday afternoon, as he dominated the Moto2 class.
The German has seen Marc Marquez whittle away at his lead all summer and after seeing the youngster top the timesheets in FP1, may have been forgiven for thinking he was in an uphill struggle again.
But the championship lead fought back, showing the kind of form which gave him such a strong points advantage, to pull out a half second over Aleix Espargaro with Marquez dropping to third. The Catalunya Suter rider was unable to match his impressive pace from the opening session and the onus will now be on him to raise his game tomorrow.
Thomas Luthi jumped up from 16th in the morning to fourth in the afternoon while the two Ioda Racing FTRs, Mattia Pasini and Simone Corsi, broke into the top ten for the second session running, finishing fifth and sixth respectively. Pol Espargaro was another man to continue his strong run of form in seventh while the two Gresini Moriwakis of Michele Pirro and Yuki Takahashi set nearly identical times to each other just behind.
Scott Redding rounded out the top ten but fellow Briton Bradley Smith ended up down in 14th after failing to match his morning time. The Tech 3 rider will have a chance to make improvements in tomorrow morning's final practice session which gets underway at 10:10am UK time.
Friday Practice Result:
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Bike | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Stefan Bradl | GER | Kalex | Viessman Kiefer Racing | 1:38.461 |
| 2 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Pons Kalex | Pons HP 40 | +0.550 |
| 3 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Suter | Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol | +0.554 |
| 4 | Thomas Luthi | SWI | Suter | Interwetten Paddock Moto2 | +0.584 |
| 5 | Mattia Pasini | ITA | FTR | Ioda Racing Project | +0.679 |
| 6 | Simone Corsi | ITA | FTR | Ioda Racing Project | +0.806 |
| 7 | Pol Espargaro | SPA | FTR | HP Tuenti Speed Up | +0.837 |
| 8 | Michele Pirro | ITA | Moriwaki | Gresini Racing Moto2 | +0.838 |
| 9 | Yuki Takahashi | JAP | Moriwaki | Gresini Racing Moto2 | +0.847 |
| 10 | Scott Redding | GBR | Suter | Marc VDS Racing Team | +0.951 |
| 11 | Andrea Iannone | ITA | Suter | Speed Master | +1.048 |
| 12 | Alex de Angelis | RSM | Motobi | JIR Moto2 | +1.267 |
| 13 | Esteve Rabat | SPA | FTR | Blusens-STX | +1.353 |
| 14 | Bradley Smith | GBR | Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +1.541 |
| 15 | Max Neukirchner | GER | MZ-RE Honda | MZ Racing Team | +1.557 |
| 16 | Randy Krummenacher | SWI | Kalex | GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing | +1.596 |
| 17 | Mika Kallio | FIN | Suter | Marc VDS Racing Team | +1.623 |
| 18 | Julian Simon | SPA | Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | +1.659 |
| 19 | Jordi Torres | SPA | Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | +1.660 |
| 20 | Claudio Corti | ITA | Suter | Italtrans Racing Team | +1.682 |
| 21 | Raffaele de Rosa | ITA | Suter | NGM Forward Racing | +1.796 |
| 22 | Tomoyoshi Koyama | JAP | Suter | Technomag-CIP | +1.844 |
| 23 | Dominique Aegerter | SWI | Suter | Technomag-CIP | +1.871 |
| 24 | Ricard Cardus | SPA | Moriwaki | QMMF Racing Team | +1.897 |
| 25 | Anthony West | AUS | MZ-RE Honda | MZ Racing Team | +1.907 |
| 26 | Jules Cluzel | FRA | Suter | NGM Forward Racing | +1.932 |
| 27 | Kenny Noyes | USA | FTR | Avintia-STX | +2.018 |
| 28 | Xavier Simeon | BEL | Tech 3 | Tech 3 B | +2.052 |
| 29 | Alex Baldolini | ITA | Pons Kalex | Pons HP 40 | +2.140 |
| 30 | Joan Olive | SPA | FTR | Blusens-STX | +2.237 |
| 31 | Mike Di Meglio | FRA | Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +2.274 |
| 32 | Robertino Pietri | VEN | Suter | Italtrans Racing Team | +2.357 |
| 33 | Alessandro Andreozzi (WC) | ITA | FTR | Andreozzi Reparto Corse | +2.428 |
| 34 | Ratthapark Wilairot | THA | FTR | Thai Honda Singha SAG | +2.630 |
| 35 | Valentin Debise | FRA | FTR | Speed Up | +2.645 |
| 36 | Carmelo Morales | SPA | Suter | Desguaces La Torre G22 | +2.737 |
| 37 | Jacob Gagne | USA | FTR | Aeroport de Castello | +3.223 |
| 38 | Mashel Al Naimi | QAT | Moriwaki | QMMF Racing Team | +3.914 |
| 39 | Santiago Hernandez | COL | FTR | SAG Team | +4.225 |
