Submitted by Zara Daniela on
The sun seemed happy to see the intermediate class and finally came out but didn’t smile for one of the locals in the end. Alex Marquez did feature heavily at the top of the timesheets at a track that the Spaniard loves but it was Tom Luthi who stole the limelight to lead the way in FP1. Marquez settled for second, six hundredths of a second down and with Jorge Navarro a mere seven thousandths back, despite pulling some rodeo style moves at turn 11.
Augusto Fernandez also enjoyed a good start to a home race in fourth but ended it not quite as good, in the gravel trap at turn 11. Rookie Enea Bastianini continues to impress, this time in the top five and within two tenths of the leader. Xavi Vierge seemed to thrive on home ground too, just about holding off Nicolo Bulega and Remy Gardner. Brad Binder finally gives KTM a small smile with ninth position, four tenths off the lead and ahead of championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri.
Amongst the rest of the usual suspects, Marcel Schrotter and Sam Lowes’ track time was limited by early crashes at turns nine and five respectively, the German finishing 11th and the Brit 22nd. The likes of Tetsuta Nagashima and Luca Marini had a pretty low key morning towards the bottom of the top 15, while Jonas Folger started his return to racing in 19th position.
Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Kalex | 1'44.673 | ||
| 2 | 73 | Alex MARQUEZ | Kalex | 1'44.733 | 0.060 | 0.060 |
| 3 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | Speed Up | 1'44.740 | 0.067 | 0.007 |
| 4 | 40 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | Kalex | 1'44.820 | 0.147 | 0.080 |
| 5 | 33 | Enea BASTIANINI | Kalex | 1'44.850 | 0.177 | 0.030 |
| 6 | 97 | Xavi VIERGE | Kalex | 1'44.905 | 0.232 | 0.055 |
| 7 | 11 | Nicolo BULEGA | Kalex | 1'44.934 | 0.261 | 0.029 |
| 8 | 87 | Remy GARDNER | Kalex | 1'44.950 | 0.277 | 0.016 |
| 9 | 41 | Brad BINDER | KTM | 1'45.101 | 0.428 | 0.151 |
| 10 | 7 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Kalex | 1'45.173 | 0.500 | 0.072 |
| 11 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Kalex | 1'45.250 | 0.577 | 0.077 |
| 12 | 5 | Andrea LOCATELLI | Kalex | 1'45.292 | 0.619 | 0.042 |
| 13 | 24 | Simone CORSI | Kalex | 1'45.309 | 0.636 | 0.017 |
| 14 | 27 | Iker LECUONA | KTM | 1'45.393 | 0.720 | 0.084 |
| 15 | 45 | Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | Kalex | 1'45.428 | 0.755 | 0.035 |
| 16 | 21 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | Speed Up | 1'45.472 | 0.799 | 0.044 |
| 17 | 10 | Luca MARINI | Kalex | 1'45.484 | 0.811 | 0.012 |
| 18 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | MV Agusta | 1'45.668 | 0.995 | 0.184 |
| 19 | 94 | Jonas FOLGER | Kalex | 1'45.701 | 1.028 | 0.033 |
| 20 | 64 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NTS | 1'45.793 | 1.120 | 0.092 |
| 21 | 88 | Jorge MARTIN | KTM | 1'45.832 | 1.159 | 0.039 |
| 22 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Kalex | 1'46.034 | 1.361 | 0.202 |
| 23 | 62 | Stefano MANZI | MV Agusta | 1'46.133 | 1.460 | 0.099 |
| 24 | 4 | Steven ODENDAAL | NTS | 1'46.360 | 1.687 | 0.227 |
| 25 | 20 | Dimas EKKY PRATAMA | Kalex | 1'46.473 | 1.800 | 0.113 |
| 26 | 96 | Jake DIXON | KTM | 1'46.724 | 2.051 | 0.251 |
| 27 | 72 | Marco BEZZECCHI | KTM | 1'46.901 | 2.228 | 0.177 |
| 28 | 16 | Joe ROBERTS | KTM | 1'47.222 | 2.549 | 0.321 |
| 29 | 35 | Somkiat CHANTRA | Kalex | 1'47.352 | 2.679 | 0.130 |
| 30 | 3 | Lukas TULOVIC | KTM | 1'47.509 | 2.836 | 0.157 |
| 31 | 18 | Xavi CARDELUS | KTM | 1'47.830 | 3.157 | 0.321 |
| 32 | 65 | Philipp OETTL | KTM | 1'48.374 | 3.701 | 0.544 |