Moto2: Pasini back on top in the rain

Mattia Pasini has maintained his recent impressive record in the Moto2 class at Motorland Aragon by topping the opening day of action in mixed conditions at the Spanish circuit, holding off the advances of 2018 MotoGP graduates Franco Morbidelli and Takaaki Nakagami to end the day two tenths of a second clear.

The Italian Renaissance Man was able to set his time in the second of the day’s sessions after rain man Thomas Luthi topped a wet opening outing, but with conditions improving at the end of the day it was the Italtrans rider on top with championship contender Luthi a distant eighth overall.

Sandro Cortese was a surprise fourth, ahead of Simone Corsi and the KTM of Miguel Olivera and Jorge Navarro. Xavi Vierge on the Tech 3 Mistral machine and Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top ten.

It was a difficult return from injury for Alex Marquez to finish the day a long distant 29^th, while Brit Tarran Mackenzie was 4.4 seconds off the pace of Pasini in 34^th.