125cc – Phillip Island FP1 – Espargaro the fastest

Pol Espargaro with his Derbi achieved the best time in the first free practice session of the 125 class at Phillip Island. The Spanish driver stopped the clock at 1'38.435, leaving Bradley Smith 255 thousandths of a second behind, second ahead of Nicolas Terol: the two are the only ones who can stop Julian Simon's chase for the championship, only fourth, close to winning the title after having squandered the first opportunity with the fall of Estoril.

There are no Italians in the "front row", but on the other hand in seventh position we find Lorenzo Zanetti (Ongetta - Aprilia) ahead of Simone Corsi, ninth, while Andrea Iannone is only in seventeenth position, over 2 seconds from the lead.

In the top ten there is KTM with Marc Marquez, fifth, followed by Sandro Cortese with the Derbi of Ajo Interwetten while Esteve Rabat (Blusens – Aprilia) is eighth. Sergio Gadea was only twelfth on the third Aprilia of the “Aspar” team.

The other Italians are behind with Luca Marconi 27th and Luca Vitali 29th with the two Aprilia bikes of the CBC Corse team.