Espargaro Leads Smith On Friday At Mugello

Pol Espargaro was the fastest man in Friday Practice ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello but Bradley Smith was hot on his heels, continuing his good run of form. The Tech 3 rider was in the top four in both practice sessions and his Mistral 610 may pick up even more pace before qualifying.

Smith, who has struggled particularly for straight line speed so far this year, will be running a new aerodynamic package on his bike tomorrow as Tech 3's hard work to bring updates to their home-built chassis continues. The British rider hasn't finished on the podium since this very race last season and he'll be hoping the upgrade help end that drought.

Espargaro will take some beating though if his performance today is anything to go by. The Pons rider was fastest in both sessions today with his best time of 1:52.745 two tenths quicker than Smith. Along with Espargaro, Thomas Luthi has work to do in order to revive his championship challenge and the Swiss rider was third quickest.

Andrea Iannone was the quickest of the home riders in fourth although he was one of only four riders to go slower in the afternoon than he had in the morning. Championship leader Marc Marquez, fresh from securing a factory Honda ride in MotoGP, was fifth with Simone Corsi becoming the second Italian rider to break into the top six. Scott Redding, eager to bounce back from his first DNF of the year in Germany, was seventh ahead of the Alex de Angelis and Mika Kallio, two men looking to build on podium finishes a week ago.

Mike Di Meglio suffered a crash in the morning session, making a difficult start to life at the MZ Racing Team. The Frenchman has taken the ride after Swedish rookie Alexander Lundh was given his marching orders by the team. Di Meglio was 23^rd overall, five places ahead of Britain's Gino Rea who also struggled today.

 

Moto2 Gran Premio D'Italia TIM: Combined Friday Practice Classification

Pos	Rider	Constructor	Team	Time/Gap
1	Pol Espargaro	Kalex	Pons 40 HP Tuenti	1:52.745
2	Bradley Smith	Tech 3	Tech 3 Racing	+0.221
3	Thomas Luthi	Suter	Interwetten-Paddock	+0.434
4	Andrea Iannone	Speed Up	Speed Master	+0.484
5	Marc Marquez	Suter	Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol	+0.516
6	Simone Corsi	FTR	Came IodaRacing Project	+0.563
7	Scott Redding	Kalex	Marc VDS Racing Team	+0.597
8	Alex De Angelis	FTR	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	+0.601
9	Mika Kallio	Kalex	Marc VDS Racing Team	+0.627
10	Takaaki Nakagami	Kalex	Italtrans Racing Team	+0.865
11	Johann Zarco	Motobi	JIR Moto2	+0.914
12	Nicolas Terol	Suter	Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2	+0.969
13	Esteve Rabat	Kalex	Pons 40 HP Tuenti	+1.042
14	Claudio Corti	Kalex	Italtrans Racing Team	+1.065
15	Randy Krummenacher	Suter	GP Team Switzerland	+1.077
16	Yuki Takahashi	FTR	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	+1.133
17	Dominique Aegerter	Suter	Technomag-CIP	+1.197
18	Ricard Cardus	AJR	Arguiñano Racing Team	+1.419
19	Xavier Simeon	Tech 3	Tech 3 Racing	+1.449
20	Ratthapark Wilairot	Suter	Thai Honda Gresini Moto2	+1.777
21	Roberto Rolfo	Suter	Technomag-CIP	+1.868
22	Alessandro Andreozzi	Speed Up	S/Master Speed Up	+1.924
23	Mike Di Meglio	MZ-RE Honda	Cresto Guide MZ Racing	+1.948
24	Max Neukirchner	Kalex	Kiefer Racing	+1.976
25	Julian Simon	Suter	Blusens Avintia	+2.051
26	Toni Elias	Suter	Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2	+2.187
27	Anthony West	Speed Up	QMMF Racing Team	+2,459
28	Gino Rea	Suter	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	+2.652
29	Axel Pons	Kalex	Pons 40 HP Tuenti	+2.837
30	Massimo Roccoli	Bimota	Desguaces La Torre SAG	+2.977
31	Marco Colandrea	FTR	SAG Team	+3.753
32	Eric Granado	Motobi	JIR Moto2	+4.119
33	Elena Rosell	Moriwaki	QMMF Racing Team	+5.277