FIM Moto2 World Championship Le Mans, France May 13 Free Practice Two Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires): 1. Stefan BRADL, Germany (KALEX), 1:38.709 2. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:39.000 3. Simone CORSI, Italy (FTR), 1:39.135 4. Jules CLUZEL, France (SUTER), 1:39.169 5. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (SUTER), 1:39.196 6. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (SUTER), 1:39.236 7. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (MOTOBI), 1:39.248 8. Yuki TAKAHASHI, Japan (MORIWAKI), 1:39.294 9. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (PONS KALEX), 1:39.368 10. Julian SIMON, Spain (SUTER), 1:39.389 11. Scott REDDING, Great Britain (SUTER), 1:39.502 12. Claudio CORTI, Italy (SUTER), 1:39.568 13. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (FTR), 1:39.655 14. Bradley SMITH, Great Britain (TECH 3), 1:39.666 15. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (FTR), 1:39.770 16. Esteve RABAT, Spain (FTR), 1:39.789 17. Mika KALLIO, Finland (SUTER), 1:39.857 18. Axel PONS, Spain (PONS KALEX), 1:39.895 19. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:39.920 20. Ratthapark WILAIROT, Thailand (FTR), 1:39.970 21. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (KALEX), 1:40.043 22. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (MORIWAKI), 1:40.219 23. Kenny NOYES, USA (FTR), 1:40.226 24. Michele PIRRO, Italy (MORIWAKI), 1:40.247 25. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (SUTER), 1:40.301 26. Kev COGHLAN, Great Britain (FTR), 1:40.327 27. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (TECH 3), 1:40.355 28. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (TECH 3), 1:40.355 29. Javier FORES, Spain (SUTER), 1:40.362 30. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (MORIWAKI), 1:40.369 31. Robertino PIETRI, Venezuela (SUTER), 1:40.404 32. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (SUTER), 1:40.546 33. Mattia PASINI, Italy (FTR), 1:40.570 34. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Germany (MZ-RE HONDA), 1:40.638 35. Anthony WEST, Australia (MZ-RE HONDA), 1:40.703 36. Valentin DEBISE, France (FTR), 1:40.961 37. Santiago HERNANDEZ, Colombia (FTR), 1:41.029 38. Mashel AL NAIMI, Qatar (MORIWAKI), 1:42.210 39. Alexander CUDLIN, Australia (MORIWAKI), 1:42.513 40. Steven ODENDAAL, South Africa (SUTER), 1:42.517 More, from a press release issued by JiR Moto2 Team: A warm and sunny day welcomed the Moto2 riders to the Le Mans circuit, where today the first two practice sessions were held. Most riders slipped straight into the groove on track, with a provisional classification that sees 14 riders covered by less than a second. Provisionally fastest so far is German Stefan Bradl with a 1’38.709 lap, already well below last year’s pole record. Our own Alex De Angelis rode many laps in these two sessions to find a good feeling with his MotoBI after a difficult weekend in Estoril and is positioned among the fastest with a best lap of 1’39.248 which gives him 7th place provisionally. During the sessions both rider and team technicians focused on the setting of the bike, but tomorrow it will be important to work also on the engine to close up the gap with the leaders and to achieve a good grid position. Alex DeAngelis Today I took advantage of the beautiful day and a dry track to run as much as possible and regain my confidence after crashes in Portugal. The results have been positive and we did many laps, being on the pace and checking the life of the tyres also. With only one set of tyres we managed to do thirty laps, far more than the 18 of the race, so we’re pretty confident on this issue. We also worked on the suspension: both front and back, finding the right path that allowed me to continually improve the times lap after lap. Tomorrow we hope to consolidate this aspect and we will also focus on new configurations of exhaust and ignition maps, because we saw that we are less efficient than we could be and so that we can improve our performance. We are not far away from pole, but it is important to work as hard as possible to make a good qualifying and find a position at the front of the grid. More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing: REDDING AND KALLIO AIM FOR IMPROVEMENTS AFTER POSITIVE START Marc VDS Racing Team riders Scott Redding and Mika Kallio are confident they can improve on their impressive practice pace, after both made a positive start to the fourth round of the 2011 Moto2 World Championship at the legendary Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans today. Today’s practice sessions took place in ideal conditions with air temperatures reaching 22 degrees under clear and sunny skies. The conditions presented Redding and Kallio with the perfect opportunity to fine-tune the set-up of their Suter MMXI machines following a valuable two-day test session immediately after the recent Estoril race in Portugal. Today proved once again just how ultra-competitive the Moto2 class is with Redding’s best time leaving him less than 0.3s away from the top six, the British rider concentrating on improving his pace on the hard Dunlop rear tyre option to finish with a best time of 1.39.502. The 18-year-old, who was sixth quickest this morning, also worked on a range of engine braking settings to improve braking stability to finish 11th on the combined timesheets. Finnish teammate Kallio ended 17th fastest as he worked closely with his Marc VDS Racing crew to improve his confidence on fresh tyres. Kallio had earlier demonstrated a fast and consistent pace on worn tyres but was unable to improve his lap times as much as his competitors on new rubber. Kallio though is still optimistic that he can fight for a top ten finish in Sunday’s 26-lap race as the Marc VDS Racing Team aims to clinch its first points of this year’s World Championship campaign. Scott Redding #45 – 1.39.502 – 36 laps “It was a good day and I was happy this morning to be in the top six and looking really strong. I only just missed out on the top ten this afternoon so I am confident we’ve got a good set-up with the bike and we just need to make some small tweaks to be higher up the order. I’ve been mainly working on getting the right feeling with the harder tyre today. I feel very confident with the soft rear tyre here but I’m struggling a little bit to push with the same level of confidence with the harder option. When I put the hard tyre in I have a problem with the bike sliding and I can’t stop the bike with it. I keep running straight on but we played around with the suspension and the engine braking to help and we’ve got some more ideas to try tomorrow, so I’m sure we’ll be competing for a top ten place on the grid in qualifying. My confidence is definitely getting better with the front too, so I know after the disappointment of the first three races that I can be fighting for a top result on Sunday, which is something the Team deserve for all their hard work.” Mika Kallio #36 – 1.39.857 – 37 laps “I’m reasonably happy but I know I can be much faster. I am only 0.6s away from the top six and I understand the reasons why I was unable to find those few tenths that I need to be much higher up the timesheets than 17th. In the afternoon session I used just one front tyre and I’d already done some laps on it this morning. So it had over 30 laps on it by the end but the biggest problem at the moment is that I can’t take full advantage of the grip that comes when I put in a new rear tyre. I can immediately feel that the tyre has more grip and it gives me more feeling, but it is not reflected in the final lap time. I’m faster than I am with the old tyre but it is still not enough and this is the difference between me and the other riders at the moment. When they put in a new rear tyre they can make a big step, but I don’t make such a big improvement. This is a problem I’ve had this year at the other tracks. The gap is not big between me and the rest on used tyres, but I need to improve my speed when the tyres are brand new. I am still confident that we can have a positive weekend and score my first points of the season.” Pete Benson: Scott Redding Crew Chief “Today was very positive for Scott and we’ve given ourselves a good base to make sure we have a positive outcome in Sunday’s race. The Estoril test recently was invaluable because it helped us try out a few settings and modifications to the bike that have improved Scott’s overall confidence with the bike. Today was really the closest we’ve been to the fastest pace in both sessions all year, so that bodes well for the rest of the weekend. And Scott has been able to lap very consistently too, so that’s another positive. We’ll focus on helping him stop the bike better tomorrow with some more changes to the engine braking set-up. He seems more comfortable on the softer tyre, so we need to try and make him more comfortable on the harder compound. It is not a big problem because we know that we can race with both tyres. It was a very close session again and we ended not a million miles away, so we’re optimistic we can get those first points on the board.”