Luthi Leads Friday Practice at Sepang

Oct 23, 2015
2 min read

Swiss rider Thomas Luthi ended day one at Sepang on top of the Moto2 practice timesheets.

Luthi, who hasn't been on the podium since his win at Le Mans in May, set a time of 2m07.453s which was just under half a second away from the pole position record set by Pol Espargaro in 2012. Luthi's lap was almost a second quicker than in the first session as the riders made the most of hot and humid conditions in the afternoon practice.

Jonas Folger had topped the first practice but had to settle for second overall just one week after a flat rear tyre ruined his chances of a podium at Phillip Island. World Champion Johann Zarco was third 0.287s adrift of Luthi, after the Frenchman had a rather lacklustre race last time out in which he failed to finish on the podium for only the third tim in 2015.

British rider Sam Lowes improved from a lowly 12th in FP1 to record the fourth fastest time overall with an improvement of just under one second between the two sessions. Moto2 rookie of the year and the winner from the last race at Phillip Island, Alex Rins, was fifth with Takaaki Nakagami, Sandro Cortese, Alex Marquez, Mika Kallio and Axel Pons completing the top 10.

Moto2 Combined Friday Practice Top 10:

1st - Thomas LUTHI, 2m07.453s

2nd - Jonas FOLGER, 2m07.720s

3rd - Johann ZARCO, 2m07.738s

4th - Sam LOWES, 2m07.870s

5th - Alex RINS, 2m07.948s

6th - Takaaki NAKAGAMI, 2m08.189s

7th - Sandro CORTESE, 2m08.259s

8th - Alex MARQUEZ, 2m08.300s

9th - Mika KALLIO, 2m08.344s

10th - Axel PONS, 2m08.359s.

Full combined practice times available here.