Garage Plus Interwetten rider Tom Luthi ended the first Moto2 practice of the weekend on top in a session interrupted by an early red flag.
Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s Takaaki Nakagami’s machine deposited fluid on his rear tyre as he exited the final corner five minutes into the session, sending the Japanese rider skyward. Luckily he was unharmed and was able to get back out to eventually finish 11th, but the session had to be stopped whilst the track was cleaned.
Twitter: Session will restart at 11:13am local time
#ValenciaGP https://t.co/2EFWY6hr2z (@MotoGP)
Once the the session got back underway, it was Dynavolt Intact’s Jonas Folger who led the way on the hard tyre. The German rider enters his final race as a Moto2 rider before making the step up to the MotoGP class next season with Tech 3, and will be keen to end the season on a high. Folger was shuffled back to third at the chequered flag.
Luthi was the only rider towards the end of FP1 using the harder rear Dunlop, clocking an impressive 1m35.513s despite the track temperature remaining quite low. The Swiss rider was just over a tenth of a second clear of Simone Corsi, who’ll be relishing the cooler conditions as it tends to suit the Speed Up chassis.
Sam Lowes was fourth fastest this morning as he gears up for his MotoGP debut with Aprilia next season. The British rider endured a torrid time in the overseas races, failing to finish all three. Having not scored a point since September, Lowes will be desperate to deliver his Gresini team with a strong result to head into the winter with.
Mattia Pasini kicked off his Valencia weekend in a decent fifth on the Italtrans machine, three hundredths of a second clear of Franco Morbidelli who’ll be gunning for that ever-elusive maiden victory on Sunday. Sandro Cortese headed new World Champion Johann Zarco in seventh, with Xavier Simeon and Marcel Schrotter completing the top 10.
Nakagami wasn’t the only ride caught out by the conditions in FP1. Wild-card Hugo Clere crashed at Turn 4 just moments before the red flag was flown, whilst Lorenzo Baldassarri fell of at Turn 2 in the final 10 minutes. Hafizh Syahrin has withdrawn from Friday practice altogether in order to recover from a nasty stomach bug.
Comments.
Loading comments…