Di Meglio steps up a gear

Mapfre Aspar rider Mike di Meglio’s lap of 1’36.356 was the best time set in the second 250cc practice session, although the Frenchman failed to better Héctor Barberá’s best lap from Friday.

Posting a best time 0.212s faster than next quickest rider Alex Debón (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) Di Meglio also ranked ahead of Barberá, who went round just under 0.4s slower than his own hot lap from Free Practice 1.

Hiroshi Aoyama was fourth fastest – as he was on Friday – at 0.279s off Di Meglio’s pace. Aoyama timed his best lap more than half a second faster than Marco Simoncelli, the only other rider who can actually claim the World Championship title this weekend.

Metis Gilera rider Simoncelli clocked in at eighth fastest in the session, as Aoyama’s Scot Honda team-mate Raffaele de Rosa completed the top five names on the timesheet, with Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team) and Thomas Luthi (Emmi - Caffe Latte) sixth and seventh quickest respectively.