Di Meglio shows wet weather credentials in crash-filled 125cc session

The predicted rainfall at Donington Park was the one thing that Mike di Meglio´s 125cc rivals were hoping against, and the Frenchman showed why with a fastest time over a second quicker than his closest rival on Saturday morning.

Ajo Motorsport´s World Championship leading rider –who has won two races in the wet during his time in the 125cc class- stopped the clock at 1´52.674, ahead of title rival and normally aquaphobic Jack&Jones WRB man Simone Corsi. Unfortunately for Di Meglio, Corsi still holds a crucial advantage as the second qualifying session looms for the lower cylinder category stars, having taken provisional pole in the dry during the opening grid-deciding run.

After a difficult start to his home Grand Prix weekend, Bradley Smith looked comparatively more comfortable on the timesheet in third, a fact belied by a pair of crashes that will not have aided the Briton´s attempts to recover from a Catalunya tumble. He recorded a fastest time just quicker than those of Raffaele de Rosa and Gabor Talmacsi, with the latter on course for a front row start.

Nineteen crashes and some additional off-track excursions marked the session, although some had little effect on the riders. Jules Cluzel took a trip into the grass or gravel on five separate occasions, but was still able to record the sixth fastest time of the morning. Takaaki Nakagami, Sergio Gadea, Randy Krummenacher and Stevie Bonsey completed the top ten.