Nieto shades opening Moto2 practice in Brno

A fast lap three minutes from the end of the first practice session at Brno handed Fonsi Nieto top spot on the timesheet on Friday afternoon, as the Spaniard beat home rider Karel Abraham to the top time by a margin of just 0.002s.

The Cardion ab Motoracing rider had been in prime position for more than half the session with his effort of 2’04.877, but a crash at turn 13 with 25 minutes remaining ended his session early. The Czech rider’s time remained the fastest until Nieto edged in front on his 18th of 20 laps.

Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP) had a crash early in the session but the Japanese rider was back on his bike and undaunted as he set the third best lap of the hour, placing him a tenth of a second ahead of Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up).

Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), Yuki Takahashi (Tech3 Racing), Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) and Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) completed the top eight, with the Championship’s current second-placed rider Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) in 15th.

Alex Baldolini (Caretta Technology Race Dept) and Patrick Vostarek (Kiefer Racing) both experienced falls in a session which was sat out by Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2). The Spaniard was not allowed to take part in the practice by Race Direction following his testing infringement by riding at Misano last weekend, and will return to the track for the second practice session on Saturday morning.