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 | ![]() |
Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | 1:37.869 |
2 | ![]() |
Suter | Interwetten-Paddock | +0.078 |
3 | ![]() |
FTR | Came IodaRacing Project | +0.495 |
4 | ![]() |
Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | +0.525 |
5 | ![]() |
Suter | Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol | +0.617 |
6 | ![]() |
Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +0.622 |
7 | ![]() |
Speed Up | Speed Master | +0.828 |
8 | ![]() |
Suter | Blusens Avintia | +0.855 |
9 | ![]() |
Suter | Technomag-CIP | +0.908 |
10 | ![]() |
Kalex | GP Team Switzerland | +0.959 |
11 | ![]() |
Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team | +0.989 |
12 | ![]() |
Suter | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +1.035 |
13 | ![]() |
Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | +1.064 |
14 | ![]() |
Speed Up | S/Master Speed Up | +1.107 |
15 | ![]() |
Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team | +1.232 |
16 | ![]() |
Bimota | Desguaces La Torre SAG | +1.245 |
17 | ![]() |
Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +1.297 |
18 | ![]() |
Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +1.310 |
19 | ![]() |
Motobi | JIR Moto2 | +1.334 |
20 | ![]() |
Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +1.528 |
21 | ![]() |
Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +1.570 |
22 | ![]() |
Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | +1.661 |
23 | ![]() |
Moriwaki | QMMF Racing Team | +1.691 |
24 | ![]() |
AJR | Arguiñano Racing Team | +1.801 |
25 | ![]() |
Suter | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +1.826 |
26 | ![]() |
Kalex | Kiefer Racing | +1.890 |
27 | ![]() |
Suter | Thai Honda Gresini Moto2 | +2.071 |
28 | ![]() |
Suter | Technomag-CIP | +2.281 |
29 | ![]() |
MZ FTR | Cresto Guide MZ Racing | +2.515 |
30 | ![]() |
Suter | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | +2.817 |
31 | ![]() |
FTR | SAG Team | +5.000 |
32 | ![]() |
Moriwaki | QMMF Racing Team | +5.084 |