FIM Moto2 World Championship Jerez, Spain April 1, 2011 Free Practice Two Results (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires): 1. Yuki TAKAHASHI, Japan (MORIWAKI), 1:44.044 2. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (SUTER), 1:44.139 3. Julian SIMON, Spain (SUTER), 1:44.153 4. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:44.204 5. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (PONS KALEX), 1:44.248 6. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (SUTER), 1:44.263 7. Claudio CORTI, Italy (SUTER), 1:44.284 8. Scott REDDING, Great Britain (SUTER), 1:44.316 9. Stefan BRADL, Germany (KALEX), 1:44.449 10. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (MOTOBI), 1:44.490 11. Simone CORSI, Italy (FTR), 1:44.642 12. Axel PONS, Spain (PONS KALEX), 1:44.674 13. Mika KALLIO, Finland (SUTER), 1:44.674 14. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (SUTER), 1:44.697 15. Ratthapark WILAIROT, Thailand (FTR), 1:44.733 16. Michele PIRRO, Italy (MORIWAKI), 1:44.749 17. Jules CLUZEL, France (SUTER), 1:44.807 18. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (FTR), 1:44.842 19. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:44.872 20. Esteve RABAT, Spain (FTR), 1:44.888 21. Kev COGHLAN, Great Britain (FTR), 1:45.305 22. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (KALEX), 1:45.326 23. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (TECH 3), 1:45.344 24. Javier FORES, Spain (SUTER), 1:45.363 25. Anthony WEST, Australia (MZ-RE HONDA), 1:45.405 26. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (FTR), 1:45.447 27. Mattia PASINI, Italy (FTR), 1:45.605 28. Bradley SMITH, Great Britain (TECH 3), 1:45.631 29. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (MORIWAKI), 1:45.681 30. Kenny NOYES, USA (FTR), 1:45.784 31. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (MORIWAKI), 1:45.787 32. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (SUTER), 1:45.869 33. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Germany (MZ-RE HONDA), 1:46.135 34. Santiago HERNANDEZ, Colombia (FTR), 1:46.243 35. Steven ODENDAAL, South Africa (SUTER), 1:46.276 36. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (TECH 3), 1:46.338 37. Robertino PIETRI, Venezuela (SUTER), 1:46.359 38. Valentin DEBISE, France (FTR), 1:46.549 39. Mashel AL NAIMI, Qatar (MORIWAKI), 1:48.236 40. Lukasz WARGALA, Poland (MORIWAKI), 1:50.898 More, from a press release issued by JiR Team: The JiR Team have enjoyed a beautiful sunny day today with a track temperature of 43 °degrees on at the Andalusian track of Jerez de la Frontera. This glorious weather has allowed all teams to take full advantage of the two closely-fought practice sessions. Our rider Alex De Angelis has improved his times recorded earlier this season during the winter tests. In the morning of free practice the JiR Moto2 rider took the third best time with a 1′ 44 .199s laptime. In the afternoon, a harmless crash, while he was setting the fastest time in the second sector, stopped the San Marino rider improving his time, his performance left him with 10th position with the time of 1’44 .490. In combined free practice times, Alex ended with the 6th fastest time just 0.671s from Swiss rider Thomas Luthi followed by Stefan Bradl and Yuki Takahashi. Tomorrow it will be a busy day for all the teams who will try to improve their performance during the qualifying session scheduled at 15:10 pm. More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team: KALLIO AND REDDING BACK ON FORM AT WINDY JEREZ Marc VDS Racing Team riders Mika Kallio and Scott Redding roared back to form at a wind-hit Jerez circuit in Spain today. After a tough start to the 2011 Moto2 World Championship in Qatar last month, Kallio and Redding bounced back in superb style to finish the opening day of free practice in ninth and 12th position respectively. Kallio immediately showed more of his true potential on the Suter MMXI machine, the Finnish rider’s confidence helped by Dunlop making available the same tyres he was able to set a fast and consistent pace on during winter testing at the Jerez circuit. Kallio was fifth fastest this morning and although he slipped down the rankings to 13th in hotter conditions this afternoon, he was able to significantly reduce the gap to the leading bunch compared to Qatar, as the 40-strong Moto2 field fought out another typically closely contested practice. Gaining more confidence with the front-end of his machine, Kallio finished just over 0.2s away from third place having set a best time of 1.44.158. He’s confident he can maintain his impressive form for the remainder of the weekend to challenge for his first points finish in the colours of the Marc VDS Racing squad. Redding brilliantly demonstrated his disappointing result in Qatar has done little to dent his confidence as the 18-year-old finished eighth fastest in both sessions. The British rider made numerous set-up modifications to help cure a front-end issue that hindered him throughout the Qatar weekend. The set-up changes instantly restored his confidence and he ended with a best time of 1.44.316 to finish only 0.058s behind Kallio. Mika Kallio #36 – 1.44.258 – 36 laps – 9th “Today was much more like what I expected and it was important to come here and immediately show more of my true potential. I knew I would be in better shape here than in Qatar as soon as I saw the tyre allocation sheet. Dunlop has the same tyres I used in the test at Jerez earlier this year, so this was a big confidence boost. The tyres in Qatar were much too hard for me and that made it a very difficult weekend. I feel much more confident, although I can still improve the turning of the bike in the middle of the corner. Compared to the first race it is not a big problem and the other big positive today was the gap to the front was a lot less than in Qatar. It was difficult to get close to the top ten in Qatar, so to be only a couple of tenths away from the top three reflects how much happier I am on the bike.” Scott Redding #45 – 1.44.316 – 33 laps – 12th “I’ve felt much happier and confident on the bike today and the changes we made to improve the front have made a huge difference. It was really important to come out strong and bounce back quickly from the disappointment of Qatar and I’ve done that, so a big thanks to my Marc VDS Racing crew. The changes have given me back the confidence I had with the front-end last year and it was actually quite difficult today just to get a feel for how much I could push the front again. I just had a lot more feedback, though we can improve in a couple of areas still with the front feeling. Today wasn’t about banging in a fast time and being up the front. It was about solving the front-end issues and we’ve done that while still being able to post some really competitive and consistent times. I can look forward to the rest of the weekend now with a lot of confidence.” Pete Benson – Scott Redding Crew Chief “Today was all about restoring Scott’s confidence with the front-end and we’ve obviously made some big progress, which is really satisfying. Scott is not a crasher but he’s crashed on the front-end three times in quick succession, so we’ve had to give him back the confidence he had last season. We were making quite a few changes to the bike to help with the front-end while we also concentrated on the rear tyre and working out a plan to increase tyre life for the race. Scott didn’t do a long run but we are confident our race set-up is already looking strong, and we can improve it again tomorrow.”
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