Moto2 Motegi, Free Practice 3: Great performance for “Polyccio” Espargarò

The riders of the Moto3 class closed the morning of the second day of free practice, Free Practice 3, as usual. At the Twin Ring in Motegi, the scene of the fourth last stage of the 2012 world championship, all 32 riders took to the track, including including the wild card Kohta Nozane, a sixteen-year-old rider who races in Japan with a team managed by the family of the late Norifumi Abe (who died in a road accident), a great protagonist of the 500 class world championship when he was a wild card and who inspired Valentino Rossi, so much so be called “Rossifumi”.

The best time of this third free practice session was achieved by a very effective “Polyccio” Espargarò, who, in addition to having obtained the best time with a time of 1:51.192, also showed a truly enviable race pace.

To understand how fast the Team Pons rider went, just look at the time of the second place finisher, world championship leader Marc Marquez, who beats his compatriot from Kalex by a good six tenths. Among other things, Marquez was also involved in a contact with Mika Kallio who got the worst of it. The Finn of the Marc VDS Racing Team literally sent the Suter driver to "fuck off", guilty of having "rammed" him. Marquez's behavior is not new, just think of the many controversies that occurred in Barcelona after the contact that caused Espargarò to fall.

Returning to the time rankings we find the British Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith in third place, who next year will be in MotoGP with the Yamaha of the same team he races for. Smith preceded his Kalex compatriot Scott Redding and four Spaniards, in order Esteve Rabat (Tuenti Movil HP 40), Jordi Torres and Nicol Terol (both with the Suter of Team Aspar) and Julian Simon, with the Suter of Team Blusens Avintia and that next year he will be riding the Kalex of Team Italtrans. The Swiss Thomas Luthi and the Australian Anthony West close the Top Ten.

First of the local drivers is Alex de Angelis from San Marino, twelfth with the FTR. The NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team rider who lapped in 1:52.441 precedes Toni Elias (on the bike that had belonged to Claudio Corti until Aragon) and the Roman Simone Corsi, riding the Ioda Racing FTR. Further back Andrea Iannone, only 18th while his team-mate Alessandro Andreozzi finished 28th.