motogp.com

Thursday, 17 March 2011

German rider Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) commenced his 2011 Moto2 campaign with the fastest time of the first practice session at the Losail International Circuit.

Riding under the spotlight in the strong winds of Qatar, Bradl’s lap time of 2’02.463 was just ahead of reigning 125cc World Champion Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol). Bradl’s lap time was impressive as it was quicker than the fastest lap set in the 2010 Moto2 race.

Márquez made a good start in his debut Moto2 year and was the only rider to steal the fastest lap time off Bradl in the later parts of the session. Bradl had that little bit extra to record a lap time nearly half a second quicker.

Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) continued his excellent pre-season testing form with third fastest in FP1 while fourth fastest was Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) followed by Italian star Andrea Iannone (Speed Master).

Frenchman Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) was just out of the top five in sixth place, with new face Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing Moto2) recording the seventh quickest time of the session. Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2), ex MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaró (Pons Racing) and Italian Mattia Pasini (Ioda Racing Project) rounded out the top 10.

The second Brit in the pack of Bradley Smith (Tech 3) finished 20th quickest in his debut in the Moto2 class and Scottish rider Kev Coghlan (Team Aeroport de Castelló) was 35th.