2013 Catalunya Moto2 | Espargaro Tops Friday Practice

2013 Catalunya Moto2 Friday Practice Results

Pol Espargaro put his name atop the classification on the first day of Moto2 practice in Montmelo for the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya on Friday.

A favorite with the locals, the Tuenti HP 40 rider led Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing’s Tom Luthi and NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis as increasing heat left onlookers looking for shade.

Friday brought a sweltering start to the sixth race weekend of the season, with the top three riders unable to improve their lap times in the afternoon.

Although Espargaro topped both sessions, it was his morning lap time of 1:46.985 that was the benchmark that saw off Luthi by one and three quarter tenths of a second. Behind De Angelis, Marc VDS Racing Team’s championship leader Scott Redding was fourth quickest.

Takaaki Nakagami completed the top five for Italtrans Racing Team, with Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Jordi Torres sixth ahead of Came IodaRacing Project’s Johann Zarco and Technomag carXpert’s Dominique Aegerter in eighth. Tuenti HP 40’s Esteve Rabat posted the ninth fastest time of the day, with Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio completing the top ten with a time set in the morning session.

QMMF Racing’s Ant West suffered a small crash at Turn 5 in the morning, whilst a further two crashes came in the afternoon as his teammate Rafid Topan Sucipto and Blusens Avintia’s Kyle Smith suffered incidents.

Some of the riders spoke afterwards about high tire wear in the hot temperatures, although this may not affect the race, which is run much closer to mid-day than the preceding FP and QP sessions.

2013 Catalunya Moto2 Free Practice 2 Results: