Following a short break since last weekend's Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, the 2013 Moto2 Championship got underway Friday with the first practices for the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno.
And setting the pace in the second free practice was Marc VDS Racing Team's Mike Kallio. He led the way from Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami and Tuenti HP 40’s Pol Espargaro, although it was Espargaro’s morning time that established the overall pace for the day.
Recovering from a crash in the morning, Nakagami looked set to go quickest in the afternoon, only for Kallio to top the timesheets with his last effort.
As the Finn led the way, Nakagami and Espargaro were separated by fractions while Indianapolis winner Tito Rabat (Tuenti HP 40) and Johann Zarco (Came Iodaracing Project) rounded out the top five. It was a relatively quiet day for Redding, ending proceedings eighth, but title rival Espargaro set the fastest overall lap time with 2’03.125 in the morning.
A selection of riders hit trouble during the day, not least Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2’s Thitipong Warokorn who suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right fibula after crashing in the first session; the Thai rookie was able to continue in the afternoon. Three riders would crash in the afternoon: Axel Pons (Tuenti HP 40), Alex de Angelis (NGM Mobile Forward Racing) and Dani Rivas (Blusens Avintia).
