2012 Phillip Island Moto3 Friday Practice Results
During the second Moto3 free practice Friday for the AirAsia Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger set the fastest time of the day in front of Sandro Cortese and Maverick Viñales.
Unlike in the morning session there was no sun at the island circuit to greet the riders, however this did not deter the Moto3 contingent, which once again tested its mettle on the fast and flowing track.
Folger left it late to post the best time of the day, a 1.39’213, to jump past Red Bull KTM Ajo’s World Champion Sandro Cortese, who had been the consistently quickest all day. Behind them was Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales, now back together with the team after a public apology by the rider, who did well to recover from a crash in the morning session.
Cortese’s teammate Danny Kent was once again high up the timesheets in fourth, however he was almost half a second off Viñales. Behind him, Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati looked to have found some much needed pace after a difficult morning session, ousting AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s star of the last race, Zulfahmi Khairuddin, into sixth. Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta’s Jakub Kornfeil came in seventh with both JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez and Andalucia JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Alberto Moncayo in tow.
Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi came in tenth, despite being a crasher early in the session. Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Miguel Oliveira suffered a mechanical issue right at the start but was ale to re-join practice, while Rossi’s teammate Toni Finsterbusch also had a problem with his bike. Ambrogio Next Racing’s Alex Márquez had a big crash in the afternoon practice, yet managed to avoid any serious injury.
Technomag-CIP-TSR’s Alan Techer was a crasher in the morning session, with Fastline GP Racing’s wildcard Sam Clarke and Oliveira’s teammate Alex Rins following suit. It was also heartache for Mahindra Racing’s Danny Webb, whose engine blew in the first outing. With no more engines left, the Brit is forced to miss the remainder of the weekend.
