Hernández makes his mark in Saturday practice

Yonny Hernández (Blusens-STX) took the initiative ahead of Moto2 qualifying at the Gran Premio bwin de España on Saturday morning, setting the fastest time of the final practice session to enhance his confidence. The Colombian took 0.772s off his time from the first session the previous day to post a best lap of 1’44.427 in FP2 – a session in which the top 12 riders were separated by less than half a second.

Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP), winner of the opening race of the season in Qatar, struggled somewhat in yesterday’s session but was back on the pace on Saturday, as he registered a time just 0.127s off that of Hernández to place second in the session. Thomas Lüthi of the Interwetten Moriwaki Racing team was third as he lapped a best time just four-thousandths off Tomizawa.

Alex Debón (Aeroport de Castelló-Ajo), who led FP1, and Alex de Angelis (RSM Team Scot) were both inside the top five times as they got within two-tenths of Hernández, with Tech3 Racing’s Yuki Takahashi and Viessmann Kiefer Racing rider Stefan Bradl sixth and seventh fastest respectively.

Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2) had a slide in Turn 6 that saw his bike hit the asphalt, but the Spaniard was still able to set the eighth fastest time, with Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) and Kenny Noyes (Jack&Jones by Antonio Banderas) completing the top ten.

Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) both had crashes during the session.