Morbidelli edges Pasini in tight final Moto2 practice
Championship leader Franco Morbidelli stole top spot away from Mattia Pasini at the end of a tight final Moto2 practice for the Aragon Grand Prix.
Marc VDS rider Morbidelli was the initial pacesetter in the final 45-minute practice of the weekend, the Italian taking over at the top of the timesheets with a 1m54.437s before improving to a 1m54.268s.
Morbidelli remained unchallenged until the final quarter of the session, when Friday’s fastest man Mattia Pasini lit up the timing screens.
Trialling a new front fairing on his Italtrans Kalex, Pasini leaped ahead of Morbidelli with a 1m54.210s, and this looked like it would stand as the benchmark as the chequered flag fell.
However, Morbidelli dug deep on his final lap to produce a lap 0.010 second quicker to return to top spot, while Takaaki Nakagami completed the top three with a late effort of 1m54.216s.
Sandro Cortese needs a strong performance this weekend as he seeks a Moto2 ride for next season.
The German ran an updated Suter frame at Misano, which he used to secure his first top six in a year, and was strong again this morning in fourth spot – 0.095s off the pace.
Miguel Oliveira completed the top five on the KTM ahead of Alex Marquez, while Simone Corsi, Jorge Navarro, Tom Luthi and Francesco Bagnaia rounded out the top 10.
Axel Pons was just half a second from top spot, but this saw him outside of the top 10 in 11th ahead of Augusto Fernandez, Fabio Quartararo, the returning Marcel Schrotter and the Avintia MotoGP-bound Xavier Simeon.
Hafizh Syahrin and Tetsuta Nagashima were the only fallers in the session, the pair going down in quick succession at Turns 1 and 4 with five minutes to go.