Scott Redding will feel a maiden Moto2 pole position is getting closer and closer after he topped Friday practice for the second race in succession. The Briton was an encouraging fourth in the first session but broke the circuit record on his way to setting the pace in the second.
Simone Corsi was top of the timesheets previously after clocking a 1:38.364 on the IodaRacing FTR but Redding raised the bar on his second run of the afternoon. The Marc VDS rider initially went a tenth faster than Corsi but two more scorching laps extended the lead to half a second.
Corsi couldn't respond but Thomas Luthi had more pace in hand. The Swiss rider was the fastest man in first practice and got to within 0.078s on his final lap of the session despite giving away four tenths in the first sector of the lap. Corsi hung on to third while Mika Kallio delivered his quickest lap in the dying seconds to pip Marc Marquez to fifth.
The Spaniard finished five thousandths ahead of championship rival Pol Espargaro while Andrea Iannone, Julian Simon, Dominique Aegerter and Randy Krummenacher completed the top ten. Bradley Smith had a disappointing day on board his Tech 3 Mistral, finishing in 20th while Gino Rea was ten places further back on his first day with the Suter chassis.
Johann Zarco has been one of the stars of 2012 so far but didn't make a good start to his home grand prix. The JIR rider lost control of his bike at Garage Vert, taking out Max Neukirchner in the process, and the unlucky German went on the crash again later on, compounding a miserable day for him.
Moto2 Monster Energy Grand Prix de France: Combined Friday Practice Times
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Team | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Scott Redding |
Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | 1:37.869 |
| 2 |  Thomas Luthi |
Suter | Interwetten-Paddock | +0.078 |
| 3 |  Simone Corsi |
FTR | Came IodaRacing Project | +0.495 |
| 4 |  Mika Kallio |
Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | +0.525 |
| 5 |  Marc Marquez |
Suter | Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol | +0.617 |
| 6 | Pol Espargaro |
Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +0.622 |
| 7 | Andrea Iannone |
Speed Up | Speed Master | +0.828 |
| 8 | Julian Simon |
Suter | Blusens Avintia | +0.855 |
| 9 | Dominique Aegerter |
Suter | Technomag-CIP | +0.908 |
| 10 | Randy Krummenacher |
Kalex | GP Team Switzerland | +0.959 |
| 11 | Toni Elias |
Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team | +0.989 |
| 12 |  Alex De Angelis |
Suter | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +1.035 |
| 13 | Claudio Corti |
Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | +1.064 |
| 14 |  Mike Di Meglio |
Speed Up | S/Master Speed Up | +1.107 |
| 15 | Nicolas Terol |
Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team | +1.232 |
| 16 | Angel Rodriguez |
Bimota | Desguaces La Torre SAG | +1.245 |
| 17 |  Xavier Simeon |
Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +1.297 |
| 18 | Esteve Rabat |
Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +1.310 |
| 19 | Johann Zarco |
Motobi | JIR Moto2 | +1.334 |
| 20 | Bradley Smith |
Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +1.528 |
| 21 | Axel Pons |
Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +1.570 |
| 22 |  Takaaki Nakagami |
Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | +1.661 |
| 23 |  Anthony West |
Moriwaki | QMMF Racing Team | +1.691 |
| 24 | Ricard Cardus |
AJR | Arguiñano Racing Team | +1.801 |
| 25 | Yuki Takahashi |
Suter | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +1.826 |
| 26 |  Max Neukirchner |
Kalex | Kiefer Racing | +1.890 |
| 27 |  Ratthapark Wilairot |
Suter | Thai Honda Gresini Moto2 | +2.071 |
| 28 | Roberto Rolfo |
Suter | Technomag-CIP | +2.281 |
| 29 |  Alexander Lundh |
MZ FTR | Cresto Guide MZ Racing | +2.515 |
| 30 | Gino Rea |
Suter | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | +2.817 |
| 31 | Marco Colandrea |
FTR | SAG Team | +5.000 |
| 32 | Elena Rosell |
Moriwaki | QMMF Racing Team | +5.084 |
