Silverstone Moto2: Zarco fastest but Redding closing

Johann Zarco has contented his form of yesterday to maintain his lead in the Moto2 class at Silverstone ahead of qualifying, although he was forced to push to lap record pace to beat local hero Scott Redding.

Redding, who led much of the session on his specially-painted MarcVDS Kalex, was pipped right at the end of the 45 minute session by the Swiss racer, as he pushed the outright lap record to 2’07.591, besting Thomas Luthi’s 2’07.667 lap of last year.

However, even that was barely enough to beat the Brit, with Redding finishing only 0.001 down at the chequered flag. Indeed, the top three were separated by under 0.1 seconds, with Takaai Nakagami only 0.07 behind the leading pair.

Luthi was fourth, leading Tito Rabat and the still-improving Danny Kent, who produced another excellent ride as he continued to improve his fortunes on the Tech3 Mistral bike.

Xavier Simeon was seventh, while Redding’s main championship rival Pol Espargaro was back in eighth, almost three quarters of a second off the pace of the front group.

Gino Rea, who crashed uninjured during the session, was 17th, while Jason O’Halloran, replacing injured Mike de Meglio, improved one place from yesterday to 25th.

1 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Came Iodaracing Project Suter 269.3 2’07.591
2 45 Scott REDDING GBR Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 265.6 2’07.592 0.001 / 0.001
3 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 264.9 2’07.668 0.077 / 0.076
4 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing Suter 270.0 2’07.855 0.264 / 0.187
5 80 Esteve RABAT SPA Tuenti HP 40 Kalex 272.3 2’07.923 0.332 / 0.068
6 52 Danny KENT GBR Tech 3 Tech 3 271.6 2’08.169 0.578 / 0.246
7 19 Xavier SIMEON BEL Maptaq SAG Zelos Team Kalex 266.0 2’08.238 0.647 / 0.069
8 40 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Tuenti HP 40 Kalex 268.9 2’08.330 0.739 / 0.092
9 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 266.9 2’08.369 0.778 / 0.039
10 18 Nicolas TEROL SPA Aspar Team Moto2 Suter 268.3 2’08.416 0.825 / 0.047
17 8 Gino REA GBR Gino Rea Montaze Broz Racing FTR 260.3 2’09.233 1.642 / 0.042
25 22 Jason O’HALLORAN AUS JiR Moto2 Motobi 261.2 2’09.841 2.250 / 0.254