Espargaró on the pace in Japan morning warm-up

It was Tuenti Movil HP 40’s Pol Espargaró who was on the pace in the Moto2™ morning warm-up for the AirAsia Grand Prix of Japan in Motegi in front of Bradley Smith and Scott Redding.

Today’s pole-position starter Espargaró cemented his favourites tag this weekend by setting the fastest time of the session with a 1.51’391 ahead of Tech 3 Racing’s Bradley Smith, who’s impressive form has remained throughout every session so far on his Mistral 610 machine. In third, Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding showed that he will also be a serious podium contender in this afternoon’s race.

Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez came in fourth, ahead of Espargaró’s teammate Esteve Rabat, Blusens Avintia’s Julián Simón and Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami. Tuenti Movil HP 40’s Axel Pons was the first crasher of the session, followed by Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone and NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis. None of the riders were seriously hurt.