Espargaró tightens his grip in second session

Pol Espargaró was once again the fastest in practice at the Monster Energy Grand Prixd de France, as he set the best lap of the final practice session on Saturday morning ahead of qualifying later in the day.

With a hot lap of 1’44.044 (just over a tenth slower than his time from Friday) the title hopeful of the Tuenti Racing team was 0.066s quicker round the Le Mans track than World Championship standings leader Nico Terol, who set the second best time of the session.

Terol’s Bancaja Aspar team-mate Bradley Smith and his crew appeared to have solved the mechanical issues that cut short his session on day one and the British rider was able to complete the full 40 minutes, riding 18 laps and setting the third best time of the session at just under six-tenths off Espargaró.

Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider Marc Márquez climbed back aboard his Derbi machine after a crash midway through the session to end the practice as the fourth quickest, with Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) making it four Spaniards inside the top five.

Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo) and Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) set the sixth and seventh fastest times respectively, with Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team) continuing his impressive showing as the eighth quickest and flying the French flag.

The top ten on the timesheet was completed by Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) and Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), the latter of whom set his best time after a fall halfway through the practice.

The lower temperatures than the previous day on track caused some issues (24ºC this morning as opposed to 44ºC yesterday) for riders, as shown by the falls for Márquez and Rabat, and Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125) also experienced a slip which ended his session. Fortunately there were no lasting physical consequences for the riders. Qualifying for the 125cc class is due to begin at 1pm local time.