Bright start for Simón on Saturday morning

Title candidate Julián Simón (Bancaja Aspar) was the top dog in the first free practice of Saturday morning at the Circuit de Catalunya as the 125cc field made their preparations for qualifying later today.

Spaniard Simón, who is second in the general standings at present, looks like he has a great chance of securing pole position at round six on Saturday afternoon - having lapped well over half a second quicker than his closest rival in the early session.

Registering his fastest time of 1’51.196 on the last of his 16 laps at a sun-drenched Montmeló track Simón bettered his own Friday best by more than a second and finished the practice 0.627s ahead of second placed Scott Redding (Blusens Aprilia).

Meanwhile, just a 0.01s margin behind Redding, Spanish pair Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM) and Nico Terol (Jack & Jones Team) were recorded as having put in exactly the same best lap time of 1’51.833.

With Andrea Iannone (Ongetta Team I.S.P.A.), Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar), Joan Olivé (Derbi Racing Team), Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team), Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) and Efrén Vázquez (Derbi Racing Team) all featuring towards the head of the timesheet there were six Spanish names in the top ten.