Submitted by Mike Lewis on
Takaaki Nakagami bolstered his hopes that he's returning to early-season form with the top time in Moto2 FP1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nakagami's 1'44.518 is two-tenths clear of seond-fastest Mattia Pasini who, in turn, is another two-tenths ahead of Dominique Aegerter. Nakagami has struggled in recent races after a strong start to the season. Championship points leader Scott Redding couldn't shake off the cobwebs from the month-long break and finished ninth, seven-tenths off the pace.
Results:
| Pos. | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff. / Prev. |
| 1 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Kalex | 1'44.518 | |
| 2 | 54 | Mattia PASINI | Speed Up | 1'44.747 | 0.229 / 0.229 |
| 3 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | Suter | 1'45.001 | 0.483 / 0.254 |
| 4 | 3 | Simone CORSI | Speed Up | 1'45.109 | 0.591 / 0.108 |
| 5 | 40 | Pol ESPARGARO | Kalex | 1'45.144 | 0.626 / 0.035 |
| 6 | 18 | Nicolas TEROL | Suter | 1'45.200 | 0.682 / 0.056 |
| 7 | 60 | Julian SIMON | Kalex | 1'45.203 | 0.685 / 0.003 |
| 8 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | Suter | 1'45.239 | 0.721 / 0.036 |
| 9 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Kalex | 1'45.258 | 0.740 / 0.019 |
| 10 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Suter | 1'45.501 | 0.983 / 0.243 |
| 11 | 80 | Esteve RABAT | Kalex | 1'45.519 | 1.001 / 0.018 |
| 12 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Kalex | 1'45.533 | 1.015 / 0.014 |
| 13 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | Kalex | 1'45.541 | 1.023 / 0.008 |
| 14 | 81 | Jordi TORRES | Suter | 1'45.663 | 1.145 / 0.122 |
| 15 | 4 | Randy KRUMMENACHER | Suter | 1'45.873 | 1.355 / 0.210 |
| 16 | 11 | Sandro CORTESE | Kalex | 1'45.914 | 1.396 / 0.041 |
| 17 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | Motobi | 1'46.062 | 1.544 / 0.148 |
| 18 | 19 | Xavier SIMEON | Kalex | 1'46.120 | 1.602 / 0.058 |
| 19 | 95 | Anthony WEST | Speed Up | 1'46.141 | 1.623 / 0.021 |
| 20 | 88 | Ricard CARDUS | Speed Up | 1'46.152 | 1.634 / 0.011 |
| 21 | 24 | Toni ELIAS | Kalex | 1'46.160 | 1.642 / 0.008 |
| 22 | 52 | Danny KENT | Tech 3 | 1'46.539 | 2.021 / 0.379 |
| 23 | 72 | Yuki TAKAHASHI | Moriwaki | 1'46.553 | 2.035 / 0.014 |
| 24 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | Speed Up | 1'46.979 | 2.461 / 0.426 |
| 25 | 49 | Axel PONS | Kalex | 1'47.654 | 3.136 / 0.675 |
| 26 | 96 | Louis ROSSI | Tech 3 | 1'47.808 | 3.290 / 0.154 |
| 27 | 17 | Alberto MONCAYO | Speed Up | 1'47.860 | 3.342 / 0.052 |
| 28 | 7 | Doni Tata PRADITA | Suter | 1'48.556 | 4.038 / 0.696 |
| 29 | 44 | Steven ODENDAAL | Speed Up | 1'48.844 | 4.326 / 0.288 |
| 30 | 9 | Kyle SMITH | Kalex | 1'49.053 | 4.535 / 0.209 |
| 31 | 43 | James RISPOLI | Mistral 610 | 1'49.452 | 4.934 / 0.399 |
| 32 | 97 | Rafid Topan SUCIPTO | Speed Up | 1'49.826 | 5.308 / 0.374 |
| 33 | 10 | Thitipong WAROKORN | Suter | 1'50.261 | 5.743 / 0.435 |
Round Number:
9
2013
Comments
How come
Scott is of the pace ? he is only 0.114 slower than Pol.
Redding's pace...
He's .74 seconds off the top of the sheet. And for most of practice he was a full second off. This is unusual for him. I expect he'll close the gap as practice continues.
track surface
With the 4 types of tarmac over the whole circuit, perhaps he's building up careful, steady and slow ?
Slowly slowly catchey monkey....no point in binning it with a championship lead to think about.