Moto2

Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró was on tremendous form on the first day of Moto2 practice at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix as he set the fastest lap of the day in front of Marc Márquez and Claudio Corti in the afternoon session.

Espargaró made his intentions for the weekend clear with a record Moto2™ lap of 1.43’575 that was over half a second clear of Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Márquez, who went through some big set-up changes on his bike half way through the later session. Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti will undoubtedly be pleased with his showing in the afternoon, after the Italian posted the third fastest time of the day.

Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding looked to have found some pace as the Brit put his bike fourth, in front of Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Nico Terol, who looks reinvigorated after the long summer break. Technomag-CIP’s Dominique Aegerter cemented his good form of the day by finishing sixth in both outings, narrowly ahead of Tech 3’s Bradley Smith, who improved significantly later in the day after a subdued morning session.

Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi steered his FTR machine to eighth in the combined timesheets, ahead of Espargaró’s teammate Esteve Rabat, who suffered a crash in the afternoon’s session. Speed Mater’s Andrea Iannone, who finished third in the morning session, was unable to repeat that feat in the afternoon, and will be looking for a market improvement tomorrow.

As well as Rabat, Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi and S/Master Speed Up’s Alessandro Andreozzi also suffered crashes, though none were seriously hurt.