Ajo Motorsport rider seventh on first day of San Marino GP, after suffering small crash at the end of second session.

Zarco, Moto2, San Marino MotoGP 2015

After two consecutive victories at the last two rounds, Johann Zarco today started the thirteenth round of the Moto2 season. On new asphalt at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, the Ajo Motorsport rider shone in the first session. However, in the second session, despite improving his previous best lap time, he suffered a light crash. In the combined timesheets for the day, Zarco finished seventh.

Zarco had a similar feeling to the previous rounds from his opening laps with his Kalex at Misano, and quickly moved to the top of the timesheets. The Frenchman took advantage of favourable weather conditions –up to 39ºC on track– to lead much of the session. He missed out on the top spot by just 0.015s, but had the best pace of all the riders with 3 laps in the 1:37 mark.

In the afternoon, the Ajo Motorsport rider once again moved to the front in the first ten minutes. The World Championship leader was able to improve on his morning time despite not using new tyres. Trying to find the limit on every corner, Zarco fell at Turn 4 with five minutes to go in the session. This did not prevent him from picking his bike back up and returning to the pits.

Johann Zarco will fight for his ninth front row start of the season tomorrow, when qualifying gets underway at 3:05pm.

Results (Combined practice time FP1-FP2)
1. Tito Rabat (Kalex) 1:37.457
2. Dominique Aegerter (Kalex) 1:37.615 +0.158
3. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 1:37.616 +0.159
4. Sam Lowes (Speed Up) 1:37.630 +0.173
5. Alex Rins (Kalex) 1:37.761 +0.304
7. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) 1:37.868 +0.411

Johann Zarco,
“This weekend we are riding on new asphalt at Misano and in the first session we had to be careful to get used to it. From the first practice to the second I improved, and in the afternoon I was able to ride more relaxed –trying different tyres to assess them for the race. In the afternoon we did not go out with new tyres, and it is difficult to be up at the front in those circumstances. When looking for the limit I crashed at Turn 4, but luckily I came out unscathed and the bike wasn’t damaged. Sometimes it’s okay to have scares as it helps you focus and prepare well for the weekend. We have to keep working, finishing off work on our setup and cornering tomorrow.”