2014 Jerez Moto2 FP1: Rabat Leads Despite Tumble

Submitted by Jacob Leech on Fri, 2014-05-02 09:59

Tito Rabat has continued his strong 2014 form to head the opening Moto2 Free Practice session at Jerez despite taking a relatively low speed tumble late in proceedings. He posted a benchmark time of 1:43.486, a mere three tenths shy of the current circuit race lap record. Rabat also made sure it a clean sweep of Spanish front-runners across the classes for the Friday morning sessions. It was a Marc VDS Racing 1-2 as Rabat's team mate Mika Kallio snared second place and looked the only rider able to match the Championship leader's pace consistently throughout.

Increasingly impressive youngster Jonas Folger posted the third fastest time ahead of Xavier Simeon and fellow German youngster Sandro Cortese. Nico Terol managed to find some pace after a difficult start to the season thus far registering the sixth quickest lap ahead of Thomas Luthi, rookie sensation Maverick Vinales, his team mate Luis Salom and Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the top ten.

The brilliant, evenly-matched nature of the Moto2 class was highlighted the top 20 riders being separated by a meager nine tenths of a second. It could indicate a fabulously close race come Sunday.

Full Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff	Diff Prev
1	53	Esteve RABAT	Kalex	1'43.486
2	36	Mika KALLIO	Kalex	1'43.564	0.078	0.078
3	94	Jonas FOLGER	Kalex	1'43.666	0.180	0.102
4	19	Xavier SIMEON	Suter	1'43.668	0.182	0.002
5	11	Sandro CORTESE	Kalex	1'43.744	0.258	0.076
6	18	Nicolas TEROL	Suter	1'43.813	0.327	0.069
7	12	Thomas LUTHI	Suter	1'43.814	0.328	0.001
8	40	Maverick VIÑALES	Kalex	1'43.930	0.444	0.116
9	39	Luis SALOM	Kalex	1'43.937	0.451	0.007
10	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Kalex	1'43.984	0.498	0.047
11	5	Johann ZARCO	Caterham Suter	1'44.000	0.514	0.016
12	95	Anthony WEST	Speed Up	1'44.025	0.539	0.025
13	77	Dominique AEGERTER	Suter	1'44.064	0.578	0.039
14	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	Tech 3	1'44.105	0.619	0.041
15	3	Simone CORSI	Forward KLX	1'44.129	0.643	0.024
16	14	Ratthapark WILAIROT	Caterham Suter	1'44.198	0.712	0.069
17	22	Sam LOWES	Speed Up	1'44.201	0.715	0.003
18	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Suter	1'44.359	0.873	0.158
19	88	Ricard CARDUS	Tech 3	1'44.387	0.901	0.028
20	60	Julian SIMON	Kalex	1'44.440	0.954	0.053
21	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	Suter	1'44.631	1.145	0.191
22	4	Randy KRUMMENACHER	Suter	1'44.634	1.148	0.003
23	81	Jordi TORRES	Suter	1'44.745	1.259	0.111
24	54	Mattia PASINI	Forward KLX	1'45.086	1.600	0.341
25	96	Louis ROSSI	Kalex	1'45.286	1.800	0.200
26	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	Kalex	1'45.367	1.881	0.081
27	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Kalex	1'45.392	1.906	0.025
28	25	Azlan SHAH	Kalex	1'45.468	1.982	0.076
29	8	Gino REA	Suter	1'45.553	2.067	0.085
30	45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	TSR	1'45.855	2.369	0.302
31	97	Roman RAMOS	Speed Up	1'46.032	2.546	0.177
32	49	Axel PONS	Kalex	1'46.597	3.111	0.565
33	10	Thitipong WAROKORN	Kalex	1'46.658	3.172	0.061
34	70	Robin MULHAUSER	Suter	1'47.458	3.972	0.800
35	57	Edgar PONS	Kalex	1'48.054	4.568	0.596