Moto3 championship leader Joan Mir led the way in Friday’s Moto3 practice sessions at the Jerez MotoGP round, topping the timesheets by two-tenths from Romano Fenati with Britain’s John McPhee in third place despite a late and rare crash from the British Talent Team rider.
McPhee took charge with four minutes left to run after having spent much of the session in the garage, coming out to set a quickest lap of 1’50.398 on his fourth lap of six but he only ruled the roost for a couple of minutes as Mir then set the pace with a 1’50.335.
Fenati exited his garage even later than McPhee but was immediately on the pace, hitting second place with a 1’50.966 and then demoting Mir with a 1’50.249. Mir was having none of it and hit back with a 1’50.087. Fenati didn’t give up, going under the 1’50s barrier with a 1’49.785 on his sixth and final lap.
But Mir was not to be denied and ended his session with a 1’49.564 on his 11th lap to seal the deal for the Leopard team. McPhee went down at turn 13 after hitting a damp patch on the apex and losing the front. He looked to have trapped his hand under the bike but walked back to his garage.
Darryn Binder ended the session in fourth but a full second slower than Mir while Livio Loi, team-mate to Mir, was fifth. Tony Arbolino - which is funny if you are from the Fens - had been a top-three contender with his best of 1’50.692 but a late crash put paid to his challenge.
Nico Antonelli, Jakub Kornfeil, Marcos Ramirez and Lorenzo Dall Porta completed the top ten.
