Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) is looking for his first win in Moto2, and the Italian got off to the best start in his quest to complete that goal before the end of the 2016 season as he topped Friday’s timesheets. Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) was second quickest and a tenth down in FP2, but it was Garage Plus Interwetten rider Tom Lüthi who was second by the end of play after topping FP1 – with Nakagami taking third overall.
Simone Corsi was fourth from his time in FP1, with Jonas Folger (Dynavolt Intact GP) completing the top five also due to his best lap in first practice, as the Moto2™ field found laptimes harder to lower. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) was third quickest on Friday afternoon but sixth on combined timesheets, ahead of an impressive performance from Julian Simon (QMMF Racing Team) at home, as the Spaniard was seventh.
Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) remained in P8 by the flag from his laptime in FP1 as the Brit was another who didn’t improve, with Danny Kent (Leopard Racing) finding some form in the intermediate class to end the day in P9 – just edging out QMMF Racing Team’s Xavier Simeon, who completed the top ten.
With Zarco now Champion, the fight for P2 in the standings continues on Saturday with qualifying for the final showdown – ahead of lights out for the race on Sunday.
motogp.com
