Cortese leads first free practice in Assen

Cortese left it late to post the fastest time of the morning with a 1.45’455, over four tenths faster than the pursuing Kent. Bankia Aspar’s Alberto Moncayo was only narrowly ousted into third, and was still within half a second of the German’s top time. Blusens Avintia’s championship leader Maverick Viñales had been consistently fast throughout the session, though was held up on his fast laps at the end. He set the fourth fastest time of the morning.

JHK T-Shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez brought his bike home in fifth, over seven tenths off the front, ahead of San Carlo Gresini Moto3’s Niccolò Antonelli. RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom, seventh quickest, will be looking for an increase in pace this afternoon as he seeks to fight at the top once more. Technomag-CIP-TSR’s Alan Techer was the surprise inclusion in the top ten as he clinched eighth spot, in front of Moncayo’s teammate Hector Faubel. Rounding out the top ten is Cortese’s teammate Arthur Sissis.

The session had been largely incident free, yet with 10 minutes left to go, Mahindra Racing’s Danny Kent crashed out at turn 7, and was followed in the final minutes by his German teammate Marcel Schrotter in turn 5. Both walked away largely unscathed.