Italian MotoGP: Alvaro Bautista fastest in first 250 practice

Alvaro Bautista was the man to beat in this morning’s opening 250GP practice in Italy.

The Mapfre Aspar Aprilia rider, who was on pole at Le Mans a fortnight ago, recorded a best lap of 1:55.321 with just a quarter of an hour remaining in the session,

Marco Simon celli set the initial pace at 2:10.243 on the Metis Gilera.

By just over a quarter of an hour gone the time was down to 1:58.153 with Alvaro Bautista sitting happily at the top of the timesheets on his Aprilia before he went faster with a 1:57.014 after 25 minutes and then improved again with a 1:56.870 on the half hour.

Hector Barbera then displaced Bautista from his top spot as he recorded a 1:56.493. The Team Toth Aprilia rider then improved his time with a 1:56.127 with just under 25 minutes left of the session.

Le Mans winner Alex Debon’s 1:56.099 pushed Barbera down to second, but he wasn’t at the top for long as Barbera came back fighting to post a 1:55.907. Bautista was back at the top again with a quarter of the session left as he went faster around the Italian circuit with a 1:55.321 to leave Barbera second whilst Mattia Pasini made it an Aprilia top three with his lap of 1:55.836.

Ireland’s Eugene Laverty finished the session in 21st place with a best lap of 1:59.803 on the Blusens Aprilia.

Italian MotoGP 250 free practice one results:

1 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 1’55.321
2 Hector BARBERA SPA Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 1’55.641
3 Mattia PASINI ITA Polaris World APRILIA 1’55.836
4 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 1’56.043
5 Alex DEBON SPA Lotus Aprilia APRILIA 1’56.070
6 Manuel POGGIALI RSM Campetella Racing GILERA 1’56.287
7 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing APRILIA 1’56.711
8 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi – Caffe Latte APRILIA 1’56.751
9 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 1’56.908
10 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 1’57.390
11 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT SAG HONDA 1’57.972
12 Lukas PESEK CZE Auto Kelly – CP APRILIA 1’58.051
13 Julian SIMON SPA Repsol KTM 250cc KTM 1’58.249
14 Roberto LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 1’58.251
15 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Lotus Aprilia APRILIA 1’58.290
16 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN JiR Team Scot 250 HONDA 1’58.567
17 Imre TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 1’58.896
18 Fabrizio LAI ITA Campetella Racing GILERA 1’59.067
19 Alex BALDOLINI ITA Matteoni Racing APRILIA 1’59.346
20 Hector FAUBEL SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 1’59.403
21 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 1’59.803
22 Doni Tata PRADITA INA Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia YAMAHA 2’03.889
23 Russel GOMEZ SPA Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 2’05.291