Barberá on top in first Czech 250cc run

Pepe World Team’s Héctor Barberá, who currently sits fourth in the 250cc World Championship standings, was the fastest rider in the category at Brno on Friday as the first set of sessions at the Cardion ab Czech Republic Grand Prix came to a conclusion.

A late lap of 2’02.371 was enough to put Barberá ahead of his rivals, despite a late charge from standings leader Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing Team), who topped the timesheet briefly at the end of the session with a 2’02.511 effort, only for Barberá to reassert himself on his final lap.

With last year’s Czech 250cc racewinner Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) lapping third overall, with a best time of 2’03.125s, and Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team) fourth, with a time 0.005 slower than Debon’s, there was a strong Spanish presence towards the top of the timesheet.

Italian compatriots and Metis Gilera team-mates Roberto Locatelli and Marco Simoncelli were fifth and sixth quickest respectively, both lapping around a second down on Barberá’s pace.

The top ten also featured the names of Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia), Thomas Luthi (Emmi - Caffe Latte), Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) and Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar).