Pasini takes up the 250cc pace

Mattia Pasini led the field in the second 250cc practice session at Phillip Island, taking 0.317s off Héctor Barberá’s pace from the previous day.

Registering a best lap of 1’34.021, the Paddock GP Racing Team rider notched the morning’s best time on his 15th turn of the circuit.

Barberá, whose Friday time of 1’34.338 had set the standard, was understandably cautious following his high-side crash on the opening day, and rode a best time of 1’34.729 in 14 laps to place sixth fastest.

Following in Pasini’s trail, Raffaele de Rosa (Scot Racing) came in 0.323s behind to again take the second-best time, with Mike de Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) a further 0.073s back as the top seven all broke the 1’35 barrier.

Jules Cluzel (Matteoni Racing) was fourth in the field, with defending champion Marco Simoncelli (Metis Gilera) improving on both his time and position to make fifth with a best lap of 1’34.649. Hiroshi Aoyama, who could secure the title in Australia if results go his way, also made a marked step up from his Friday effort with a seventh-fastest 1’34.862.

There were also top-ten times for Aoyama’s brother Shuhei (Racing Team Germany), Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) and Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar).