Iannone shapes up in second practice

Andrea Iannone stepped up a level in second practice for the Gran Premio Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini on Saturday morning, setting the fastest lap of the Moto2 session with a best effort of 1’39.835 towards the end. The Fimmco Speed Up man, who is riding with a sore wrist, completed an Italian one-two at the top with Mattia Pasini whom he edged for first position by 0.024s.

Pasini, who is riding as a wild card for the Italtrans STR team this weekend, has clearly been enjoying his return to action after a four-race absence and has been setting lap times to match his enthusiasm. He was just nine-thousandths of a second in front of Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) who is riding with great confidence after his podium last time out at Indianapolis.

Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) had a run-off during the session but it was of no great consequence and the San Marino native was fourth fastest, precisely one-tenth of a second off Iannone, with Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) completing the top five. Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing), Claudio Corti (Forward Racing), Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons), Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) and Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) all set top-ten times.

Xavier Simeon, riding as a substitute on the Holiday Gym G22 team this weekend, had a nasty highside crash at Turn 14 but fortunately walked away. Alex Baldolini (Caretta Technology Race Dept) was another faller who appeared to escape injury as well.