Red Bull KTM’s Miguel Oliveira topped the timesheets in the opening Moto2 practice at Brno’s MotoGP round this morning.
The Portuguese rider, who sits in third place in the championship, stopped the clock with a 2’15.724 in the wet conditions on his 16th and final lap in the dying minutes of the session. Oliveira, who was the only man who managed to dip into the 2’15s around the 5.403km circuit was four-tenths faster than Italian Simone Corsi (Speed Up Racing), who was sitting in first position, until he got knocked off his perch by Oliveira.
Tech 3 Racing’s Xavi Vierge was a further behind Corsi, while Hafizh Syahrin put in a solid result, finishing in fourth place with a time of 2’16.357 on his Petronas Raceline Malaysia Kalex machine.
Alex Marquez, who trails Oliveira by four points in the championship, rounded out the top five after he guided his EG 0,0 Marc VDS machine to a 2’16.479.
Completing the top ten was Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46), Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten), Isaac Viñales (BE-A-VIP SAG Team), Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) with Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS).
Morbidelli, who leads the championship charge heading into round ten of the championship, hit the deck with just over three minutes remaining in the session after he lost the front at turn eleven.
The 22-year-old Italian wasn’t the only crasher in the opening session. Also crashing was local hero Karel Hanika who crashed at turn one, and Australian’s Remy Gardner who came off at the very end of the session. All three riders were uninjured.
Tarran Mackenzie, the sole British rider in the Moto2 class ended up in thirty-third position on his Kiefer Racing Suter machine after producing a 2’21.383.
