Lowes Leaps Ahead In FP1

Jun 25, 2015
2 min read

Track conditions were at their absolute best of the morning for the start of the Moto2 first free practice session, and as a result riders were able to push fairly early on for good lap times.

Sam Lowes ended the session fastest on his Speed Up machine after setting a fastest lap of 1:38.146 right at the death. The Briton had looked fairly comfortable with his pace having been in and around the top five for the entire 45-minutes. He needs a result here to put the troubles of the previous 3 races behind him.

Dominique Aegerter started the session off steady but came on-song in the final 20-minutes when he started pushing his Technomag Kalex a little harder and went top in the closing stages briefly. He ended up 2nd quickest with a 1:38.205. Interwetten team-mate Tom Luthi completed the top 3.

Tito Rabat was typically consistent in his programme this morning, ramping up his pace as the session drew to a close. The Spaniard finished a lowly 8th last year in the wet race and can't afford a repeat this weekend if he is to chase down standings leader Johann Zarco. The Marc VDS rider will be happy with 4th fastest after a 22-lap run.

Julian Simon sneaked into the top five right at the end of the session, proving that the Speed Up chassis is clearly well suited to the TT circuit. Championship leader Zarco was just 1-thousandth of a second behind in 6th.

Jonas Folger was 7th quickest, with Simone Corsi, Xavier Simoen and Alex Marquez completing the top 10.

All riders managed to stay mounted in this session, though Idemitsu Team Asia rider Azlan Shah had a few hairy moments when he took 2 excursions into the gravel traps in the third sector of the track.

FP1 Top 10:

1st Sam Lowes, Speed Up Racing, 1:38.146

2nd Dominique Aegerter, Technomag Racing Interwetten Kalex, 1:38.205

3rd Tom Luthi, Derendinger Racing Interwetten Kalex, 1:38.322

4th Tito Rabat, EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex, 1:38.606

5th Julian Simon, QMMF Racing Team Speed Up, 1:38.706

6th Johann Zarco, Ajo Motorsprt Kalex, 1:38.707

7th Jonas Folger, AGR Team Kalex, 1:38.747

8th Simone Corsi, Athina Forward Racing Team Kalex, 1:38.934

9th Xavier Simeon, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Kalex, 1:38.982

10th Alex Marquez, EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex, 1:38.986

Full results can be found here: