Phillip Island Moto2: Espargaro Leads Friday

2012-phillip-island-moto2-espargaro-leads-friday-practice
2012 Phillip Island Moto2 Friday Practice Results

After a second Moto2 free practice session that was cut short by rain at the AirAsia Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, Tuenti Movil HP 40’s Pol Espargaró topped the day’s timesheets ahead of Scott Redding and Tom Lüthi.



Espargaró was instantly on the pace in the second session, not taking long to post his fastest time of 1.34’578, the fastest of the day, before ominous clouds arrived with 20 minutes left and dumped a hefty spot of rain on the circuit.

And with many riders still doing set-up work and not focussing on outright lap times until the end, this meant that Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding retained second spot in the combined timesheets, despite only finishing in eighth in FP2. Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi and Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio finished behind the Brit, also thanks to their times from the morning.

QMMF Racing’s Anthony West, fresh from his first-ever podium in Moto2 in Malaysia last weekend, ended the day in fifth, despite setting the third quickest time of the afternoon, ousting Kiefer Racing’s Mike Di Meglio into sixth.

Seventh spot went to potential championship winner this weekend, Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez, with the Spaniard’s team fortunate to have resolved an electrical issue, which stopped him from setting a time in the morning. Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone, who despite not looking like his usual self, set the eighth quickest time of the day with a quick run in the afternoon, with GP Team Switzerland’s Randy Krummenacher making a welcome return from injury in ninth.

Completing the top 10 was last race winner Alex de Angelis on his NGM Mobile Forward Racing machine, after the San Marino rider improved marginally in the afternoon. Tech 3 Racing’s Xavier Siméon suffered engine problems early on in the second session, while Arguiñano Racing Team’s Ricky Cardús crashed in both sessions, fortunately walking away unscathed. Following the rain, some riders went out on track to check conditions with wet tyres, yet no hot-laps were set, with not much data to be gathered.

2012 Phillip Island Moto2 Free Practice 2 Results:

Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 40 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Tuenti Movil HP 40 Kalex 280.6 1’34.578
2 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Interwetten-Paddock Suter 280.8 1’35.507 0.929 / 0.929
3 95 Anthony WEST AUS QMMF Racing Team Speed Up 280.7 1’35.553 0.975 / 0.046
4 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol Suter 282.6 1’35.703 1.125 / 0.150
5 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Speed Master Speed Up 279.8 1’35.769 1.191 / 0.066
6 4 Randy KRUMMENACHER SWI GP Team Switzerland Kalex 282.7 1’35.770 1.192 / 0.001
7 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR 279.3 1’35.833 1.255 / 0.063
8 45 Scott REDDING GBR Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 277.1 1’35.862 1.284 / 0.029
9 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 280.1 1’35.963 1.385 / 0.101
10 5 Johann ZARCO FRA JIR Moto2 Motobi 279.1 1’35.986 1.408 / 0.023
11 60 Julian SIMON SPA Blusens Avintia Suter 278.1 1’36.051 1.473 / 0.065
12 19 Xavier SIMEON BEL Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 271.7 1’36.089 1.511 / 0.038
13 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Technomag-CIP Suter 278.2 1’36.177 1.599 / 0.088
14 3 Simone CORSI ITA Came IodaRacing Project FTR 280.6 1’36.349 1.771 / 0.172
15 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 277.0 1’36.498 1.920 / 0.149
16 80 Esteve RABAT SPA Tuenti Movil HP 40 Kalex 279.8 1’36.585 2.007 / 0.087
17 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 283.5 1’36.600 2.022 / 0.015
18 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Kiefer Racing Kalex 277.6 1’36.790 2.212 / 0.190
19 8 Gino REA GBR Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Suter 276.3 1’36.884 2.306 / 0.094
20 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 283.4 1’37.087 2.509 / 0.203
21 88 Ricard CARDUS SPA Arguiñano Racing Team AJR 273.6 1’37.100 2.522 / 0.013
22 14 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2 Suter 276.2 1’37.228 2.650 / 0.128
23 49 Axel PONS SPA Tuenti Movil HP 40 Kalex 274.0 1’37.231 2.653 / 0.003
24 23 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Desguaces La Torre SAG Bimota 272.0 1’37.283 2.705 / 0.052
25 81 Jordi TORRES SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 Suter 277.1 1’37.628 3.050 / 0.345
26 72 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR 276.6 1’38.112 3.534 / 0.484
27 18 Nicolas TEROL SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 Suter 280.3 1’38.157 3.579 / 0.045
28 10 Marco COLANDREA SWI SAG Team FTR 274.4 1’38.767 4.189 / 0.610
29 22 Alessandro ANDREOZZI ITA S/Master Speed Up Speed Up 277.4 1’38.773 4.195 / 0.006
30 75 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA JPN Technomag-CIP Suter 278.8 1’39.706 5.128 / 0.933
31 82 Elena ROSELL SPA QMMF Racing Team Speed Up 275.7 1’40.811 6.233 / 1.105
57 Eric GRANADO BRA JIR Moto2 Motobi 268.2 1’41.428 6.850 / 0.617