Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) was the fastest Moto2™ representative at the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas on Friday, leading from Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert) and Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) in FP2
Zarco’s best time of 2’10.839 put him ahead of his rivals, with only Aegerter able to get within 0.25s of the pace man. Aegerter had crashed with Ricky Cardus early in FP2 but both escaped major injury. Rabat, meanwhile, was 0.3s off Zarco in third and an intriguing day of qualifying lies ahead on Saturday. Also in the hunt for front row slots should be the likes of impressive rookie and Moto3™ World Champion Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40), Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Mika Kallio Marc (Marc VDS Racing Team) who were all in the top six, despite a light crash for Simeon. Luis Salom (Pons HP 40), Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), the aforementioned Cardus (Tech 3) and Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) were all in the top ten and within 0.9s of Zarco. Azlan Shah (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) also walked away from a spill, whilst Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) had a heavy crash at Turn 18 at the end of the session.