Terol Takes Charge In Second Practice At Sepang

 

Nicolas Terol reasserted his dominance in second practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, lapping six tenths quicker than morning pacesetter Sandro Cortese. The Aspar Aprilias dominated most of FP1 only for Cortese to sneak in front of them in the dying seconds but Terol wouldn't give his rivals a look-in in the afternoon.

It wasn't until the halfway stage of the session that anybody went quicker than Cortese's benchmark from the morning and it was actually the German himself that did it, clocking a 2:14.841. It was at this stage though that Terol got up to speed and the championship leader pulled out half a second over Cortese.

With three minutes to go, Terol extended his advantage to a full second with a 2:13.864 although Cortese restored some respectability in the dying seconds, cutting the gap to 0.622s. Efren Vazquez all but matched the German to go third while fourth placed Hector Faubel was the only other man within a second of Terol up front.

Championship contender Johann Zarco was 1.096s off the pace in fifth as the Frenchman's quiet day continued. The Derbi rider needs to finish in front of Terol to keep the title race alive but his biggest concern at the moment will be the pace of his Avant-AirAsia-Ajo teammate who outpaced him in both Friday sessions.

Danny Kent impressed once again to go sixth, finishing the day as the top rookie, ahead of Maverick Vinales in seventh, and four positions ahead of teammate Jonas Folger despite riding a theoretically inferior bike. Luis Salom was eighth fastest on the RW Racing Aprilia ahead of the third Aspar rider Adrian Martin while Folger rounded out the top ten.

Danny Webb confirmed Mahindra's encouraging form with 14^th, right on the tail of his teammate Marcel Schrotter while Harry Stafford ended the day in 20^th. Taylor Mackenzie had a solid afternoon too and finished 24^th overall.