Simón sets a strong Saturday pace

Julián Simón was the fastest rider in the second 125cc practice of the weekend on Saturday at Sepang, breaking the 2’14 barrier.

In considerably cooler temperatures than Friday’s practice, but with humidity at more than 70%, the World Champion shaved well over a second off his Bancaja Aspar team-mate Bradley Smith’s pace-setting lap from the previous day.

Clocking a time of 2’13.459, Simón was 0.732s faster than Red Bull KTM rider Marc Márquez, who recorded the second-fastest lap of the practice with a time of 2’14.191.

Smith was third quickest, posting a best lap some 0.873s slower than Simón’s, but he still managed to better his time from the first practice by over 0.5s. Indeed, the Brit was the only rider to come in under 2’15 on Friday, but the top ten in Saturday’s session all broke that marker.

Nico Terol (Jack & Jones Team) and Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team) were fourth and fifth fastest in the session respectively, with Sergio Gadea (Bancaja Aspar), Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team), Jonas Folger (Ongetta Team I.S.P.A.), Sandro Cortese (Ajo Interwetten) – who suffered a minor crash – and Efrén Vázquez (Derbi Racing Team) all riding top-ten times.