Terol consistently fast in first Motegi session

Nico Terol settled into his rhythm immediately as the Bancaja Aspar rider set the fastest lap of the opening 125cc practice session. The Spaniard's best time of the hour - a 1'59.882 - was the only lap under two minutes as he broke that barrier and then improved on his own effort again, finishing 0.203s ahead of rival Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport).

The gap from Márquez to third-placed Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo) was 0.320s, with Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) a fraction over three-hundredths further back. The Brit had a minor run-off as he pushed hard to improve his time, eventually marking his best effort on his 15th and final lap.

Pol Espargaró, fresh off the back of his victory at Aragón, had a difficult session which saw the Tuenti Racing rider crash twice. The first incident, at turn four, was a slow speed slide from which he recovered immediately to climb back aboard his Derbi machine. Towards the end of the session the Spanish rider then had a high-side coming out of the same turn which saw him limp off the side of the track. He ended fifth fastest at over seven-tenths off Terol's pace.

Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing), Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) and Alberto Moncayo (Andalucia Cajasol) completed the top eight. There were also falls for wild card rider Hikari Ookubo (18 Garage Racing Team) and Jonas Folger of Team Ongetta towards the start of the session, neither of which resulted in any further problems.