Debón continues fast Moto2 form as home GP commences with FP1

A three-week break failed to take any of the hunger out of Alex Debón’s appetite for speed in the Moto2 class, as the Spanish rider started his home GP at Jerez by setting the quickest time in the first free practice session on Friday.

Nine different chassis manufacturers were represented in the top ten times and less than a second separated them all, with Debón’s – who placed second in the opening race in Qatar – best time of 1’44.419 on his FTR frame the marker. The 34 year-old, who took pole position at the Andalusian track in the 250cc class last season, was followed by Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up) at a gap of 0.461s and Kenny Noyes (Jack&Jones by Antonio Banderas), who was a further four-hundredths of a second behind the Hungarian.

Yuki Takahashi (Tech3 Racing) and Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons) both had a strong session and finished with top-five times on their respective machines, and Yonny Hernández (Blusens-STX) showed some of the pace that saw him gaining confidence in pre-season as he set the sixth fastest lap.

Top ten times were also registered by Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), Claudio Corti (Forward Racing), Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing) and Qatar podium finisher Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing). Early Championship standings leader Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP) ended the session 14th fastest.

Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans STR) and Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) experienced problems with their respective bikes as they both had run-offs, the Italians finishing with the 11th and 27th quickest laps respectively.