Garage Plus Interwetten rider Tom Luthi has tightened his grip at the top of the time sheets in Spain and heads into this afternoon’s qualifying session as the man to beat after ending FP3 two tenths clear of the field.
The Swiss rider will be desperate to put the disappointment of his championship challenge ending two weeks ago in Sepang behind him with a strong result in Valencia. So far, Luthi looks on course to do that after topping the final free practice session having started the day second on the combined times.
Luthi went top early doors and remained unchallenged on his 1m35.118s, which put him a couple of tenths clear of closest rival this weekend Franco Morbidelli. Leopard Racing’s Danny Kent put in his best performance of the season in third, the British rider looking a good bet for a career first front row start in the Moto2 class later today.
World Champion Johann Zarco flew under the radar in fourth spot ahead of Dynavolt Intact’s Jonas Folger, who held onto fifth despite a late fall at the second corner. Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the top six from Julian Simon, who also fell of his motorcycle in the closing stages of FP3. Marcel Schrotter, Sandro Cortese and Alex Rins completed the top 10.
Alex Marquez will have to dig deep later today if he is to get on terms with his Marc VDS teammate Morbidelli. The Spaniard ended FP3 down in 11th and half a second off the pace of the Italian. Sam Lowes enters his final intermediate class qualifying with work to do also after taking the chequered flag in a lowly 12th spot.
French superstock champion Hugo Clere’s debut Grand Prix weekend failed to improve. Clere crashed twice in FP3 in the space of half an hour, leaving him down in last position on the time sheets and 4.5 seconds off the pace. Xavier Simeon joined his QMMF teammate Simon in taking a trip to the Ricardo Tormo gravel trap, as did AGR’s Axel Pons.
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