Tomizawa tops wet Moto2 run

Shoya Tomizawa took prime position on the timesheet in the first free practice at Silverstone on Friday, setting a fastest lap of 2’28.020 on a wet track as the spots of rain that had started to fall lightly at the end of the MotoGP session turned heavier throughout the Moto2 hour.

The Technomag-CIP rider, who is currently second in the Championship standings, was 0.582s faster than Australian Anthony West (MZ Racing) in the complicated conditions, with Xavier Simeon – who is substituting for the injured Yannick Guerra on the Holiday Gym G22 team this weekend – third at just over a tenth further back.

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) handled the wet well to place fourth, whilst Alex de Angelis (RSM Team Scot) set the fifth best time before falling right at the very end of the session.

British rider Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) got his weekend off to a confident start with sixth spot, and Alex Baldolini (Caretta Technology Race Dept) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) completed the top eight. Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing Moto2) was 22nd in the session, with third placed Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) one spot ahead of him in 21st.

In spite of the conditions there were just two fallers, the addition to De Angelis being Vladimir Leonov (Vector Kiefer Racing) who went down at Lufffied (Turn 17) earlier in the session. He eventually set the 13th fastest time. The riders will be hoping for better weather when the second practice gets underway at 11.10am local time on Saturday.