The sky is starting to whiten above the Jerez circuit but the temperatures (18° in the air, 23° on the ground) remain conducive to excellent times on the Andalusian track.
FP1 2015: 1'43.198 by Tito Rabat.
Record for the best lap of the circuit: 1'42.706 by Stefan Bradl in 2011
From the outset, the pace is very fast, and Sam Lowes sets a first milestone in 1'44.007 after a few minutes. Behind, we find the strong men of the category: Jonas Folger, Tom Luthi, Takaaki Nakagami and Johann Zarco.
Two more laps and the one who would like to join the Monster Tech3 team next year, Jonas Folger, improves by 4 tenths, in 1'43.670, a time which will remain the reference until the end of a first run which will see the fall without gravity by Dominique Aegerter.
Seventeen drivers appear in the same second.
At the start of the second run, Miguel Oliveira seemed to encounter a gearbox problem, a subject currently being debated in an attempt to find a solution to a standard Honda unit that was completely outdated during its use in the world championship.
Lorenzo Baldassarri positioned himself 3rd, then outright 1st (1'43.633) ten minutes from the end of the session.
The final race, however, was eventful, with the provisional pole positions of Simone Corsi then Takaaki Nakagami. Lorenzo Baldassarri regains his possession but it will ultimately be the Japanese driver who is the fastest, beating by far the best time of last year's FP1 and even going so far as to take the circuit record!
Behind the two men is the hole, Simone Corsi, third, already more than 7 tenths behind.
Johann Zarco is 5th, Xavier Siméon, 10th and Robin Mulhauser 27th.
For the record, Takaaki Nakagami would be positioned 20th in MotoGP FP1, ahead of Tito Rabat and Jack Miller…
Photo credit: MotoGP.com
Pos | number | Pile | Country | Team | Motorcycle | Km / h | Temps | difference 1st/Prev. |
1 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | 245.4 | 1'42.642 | |
2 | 7 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | ITA | Forward Team | Kalex | 243.3 | 1'42.805 | 0.163 / 0.163 |
3 | 24 | Simone COURSES | ITA | Speed Up Racing | Speed Up | 245.6 | 1'43.366 | 0.724 / 0.561 |
4 | 22 | Sam LOWES | GBR | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex | 244.6 | 1'43.651 | 1.009 / 0.285 |
5 | 5 | johann zarco | FRA | Ajo Motorsport | Kalex | 247.0 | 1'43.651 | 1.009 |
6 | 94 | Jonas Folger | GER | Dynavolt Intact GP | Kalex | 244.5 | 1'43.670 | 1.028 / 0.019 |
7 | 52 | Danny Kent | GBR | Leopard Racing | Kalex | 248.0 | 1'43.678 | 1.036 / 0.008 |
8 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | SWI | Garage Plus Interwetten | Kalex | 248.2 | 1'43.716 | 1.074 / 0.038 |
9 | 49 | Axel PONS | SPA | AGR Team | Kalex | 243.8 | 1'43.737 | 1.095 / 0.021 |
10 | 19 | Xavier SIMEON | BEL | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 246.3 | 1'43.798 | 1.156 / 0.061 |
11 | 73 | Alex MARQUEZ | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex | 248.4 | 1'43.966 | 1.324 / 0.168 |
12 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | SWI | CarXpert Interwetten | Kalex | 246.5 | 1'44.042 | 1.400 / 0.076 |
13 | 11 | Sandro CORTESE | GER | Dynavolt Intact GP | Kalex | 245.1 | 1'44.063 | 1.421 / 0.021 |
14 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | MAL | Petronas Raceline Malaysia | Kalex | 246.6 | 1'44.135 | 1.493 / 0.072 |
15 | 40 | Alex Rins | SPA | Pages Yellow HP 40 | Kalex | 246.4 | 1'44.234 | 1.592 / 0.099 |
16 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | GER | AGR Team | Kalex | 246.1 | 1'44.377 | 1.735 / 0.143 |
17 | 14 | Ratthapark WILAIROT | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | 244.8 | 1'44.475 | 1.833 / 0.098 |
18 | 97 | Xavi VIRGIN | SPA | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 | 246.0 | 1'44.494 | 1.852 / 0.019 |
19 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | ITA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex | 249.5 | 1'44.500 | 1.858 / 0.006 |
20 | 10 | Luca MARINI | ITA | Forward Team | Kalex | 246.2 | 1'44.533 | 1.891 / 0.033 |
21 | 44 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | POR | Leopard Racing | Kalex | 246.9 | 1'44.539 | 1.897 / 0.006 |
22 | 39 | Luis SALOM | SPA | SAG Team | Kalex | 247.3 | 1'44.550 | 1.908 / 0.011 |
23 | 57 | Edgar PONS | SPA | Pages Yellow HP 40 | Kalex | 250.4 | 1'44.688 | 2.046 / 0.138 |
24 | 54 | Matthias PASINI | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 246.9 | 1'44.759 | 2.117 / 0.071 |
25 | 2 | Jesko RAFFIN | SWI | Sports-Millions-EMWE-SAG | Kalex | 246.2 | 1'44.907 | 2.265 / 0.148 |
26 | 60 | Julian SIMON | SPA | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 246.0 | 1'44.926 | 2.284 / 0.019 |
27 | 70 | Robin MULHAUSER | SWI | CarXpert Interwetten | Kalex | 246.9 | 1'45.546 | 2.904 / 0.620 |
28 | 33 | Alessandro TONUCCI | ITA | Moto2 Scuderia Racing pocket | Kalex | 246.5 | 1'45.621 | 2.979 / 0.075 |
29 | 32 | Isaac VIÑALES | SPA | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 | 241.7 | 1'46.050 | 3.408 / 0.429 |
30 | 42 | Federico FULIGNI | ITA | Team Ciatti | Kalex | 243.9 | 1'46.479 | 3.837 / 0.429 |