Xavier Simeon left the Tech 3 team hoping for a wet race on Sunday after a sensational performance on the opening day of practice at Misano. The Belgian rider coped best with the difficult weather conditions to outpace Claudio Corti and Johann Zarco.
Zarco, on the JIR Motobi, was quickest of all in the morning but the Moto2 riders never got the chance to ride on a fully dry track. Zarco had topped FP1 with a 1:52.183 and rain towards the end of the second MotoGP session meant there was no chance of that being beaten when FP2 first got underway.
The rain certainly wasn’t bothering Gino Rea though as the British rider dominated early on. The Gresini rider lowered the benchmark time to a 1:53.034 before relinquishing the lead back to Zarco but just as he did, he highsided his Suter at turn five. Zarco wasn’t immune to the dangers of wet-weather riding himself though and tumbled at the final corner shortly afterwards.
With the top two out of action for the rest of the afternoon, Claudio Corti took over at the top of the timesheets for Italtrans Racing but his spell of superiority was ended by Simeon who broke into the 1:51s, the only rider to do so all day. Corti finished up in second place with Zarco falling to third after his fall.
MotoGP-bound Andrea Iannone took fourth ahead of Mika Kallio who suffered a similar accident to Rea at turn five. The Londoner was pushed back to seventh by Julian Simon while Thomas Luthi, Marcel Schrotter and Bradley Smith rounded out the top ten. Scott Redding didn’t enjoy the smoothest day on his Marc VDS Kalex with a crash in FP1 at turn 16 before finishing a disappointing sixteenth in the afternoon.
Moto2 GP Aperol di San Marino e Riviera di Rimini
Combined Friday Practice Classification:
Pos | Rider | Constructor | Team | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Xavier Simeon | Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | 1:51.874 |
2 | Claudio Corti | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | +0.161 |
3 | Johann Zarco | Motobi | JIR Moto2 | +0.309 |
4 | Andrea Iannone | Speed Up | Speed Master | +0.442 |
5 | Mika Kallio | Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | +0.695 |
6 | Julian Simon | Suter | Blusens Avintia | +0.817 |
7 | Gino Rea | Suter | Federal Oil Gresini | +0.860 |
8 | Thomas Luthi | Suter | Interwetten-Paddock | +1.029 |
9 | Marcel Schrotter | Bimota | Desguaces La Torre SAG | +1.093 |
10 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | +1.153 |
11 | Jordi Torres | Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | +1.155 |
12 | Anthony West | Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | +1.182 |
13 | Marc Marquez | Suter | Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol | +1.302 |
14 | Yuki Takahashi | FTR | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +1.613 |
15 | Alex De Angelis | FTR | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | +2.015 |
16 | Randy Krummenacher | Suter | GP Team Switzerland | +2.113 |
17 | Scott Redding | Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | +2.124 |
18 | Pol Espargaro | Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +2.330 |
19 | Esteve Rabat | Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +2.473 |
20 | Tomoyoshi Koyama | Suter | Technomag-CIP | +2.539 |
21 | Dominique Aegerter | Suter | Technomag-CIP | +2.892 |
22 | Axel Pons | Kalex | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | +3.153 |
23 | Nicolas Terol | Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | +3.234 |
24 | Takaaki Nakagami | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | +3.947 |
25 | Mike Di Meglio | Kalex | Kiefer Racing | +4.507 |
26 | Ratthapark Wilairot | Suter | Thai Honda PTT Gresini | +4.832 |
27 | Simone Corsi | FTR | Came IodaRacing Project | +6.183 |
28 | Elena Rosell | Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | +6.284 |
29 | Marco Colandrea | FTR | SAG Team | +6.403 |
30 | Steven Odendaal | AJR | Arguiñano Racing Team | +6.728 |
31 | Alessandro Andreozzi | Speed Up | S/Master Speed Up | +7.474 |