After his difficult weekend at Sachsenring, despite finishing fourth.
Pol Espargaro decided to start at the top of the timesheets in the first Moto2 free practice at Mugello and try to contest Marc Marquez who is running away in the standings.
The Pons rider’s best lap was in 1:53.
139, but hot on his tail was Andrea Iannone who will be debuting a new livery and helmet design for his home race and just 0.
090s adrift.
The third fastest rider was Thomas Luthi followed by Bradley Smith who ran off track at the San Donato.
Marc Marquez fresh from his signing a two year deal in MotoGP with Repsol Honda was fifth and a little more than three tenths from rival Espargaro.
Sixth went to Simone Corsi followed by Scott Redding and Randy Krummenacher.
Closing out the top ten were Claudio Corti and Mika Kallio who took his first podium of the season at Sachsenring just last week.
Massimo Roccoli is making his Moto2 debut this weekend with Desguaces La Torre SAG (Stop and Go) after being dropped from his Supersport tean and the going on to win both CIV Supersport races as a wildcard just a couple of weeks ago.
Roccoli is riding the Bimota HB4 2012 after the team axed Angel Rodriguez and Damian Cudlin replaced the Spaniard at Sachsenring.
Mike di Meglio also returned to action after being dropped from Speed Master due to budget problems and he is replacing injured Alex Lundh on the MZ-FTR, while QMMF rider Anthony West has switched chassis, dropping the Moriwaki for a Speed Up, team mate Elena Rosell is continuing with the Moriwaki.
Moto2 Mugello FP1 Results: 1 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Pons 40 HP Tuenti Kalex 289,5 1′53.
139 2 Andrea IANNONE ITA Speed Master Speed Up 283,5 1′53.
229 0.
090 / 0.
090 3 Thomas LUTHI SWI Interwetten-Paddock Suter 285,6 1′53.
399 0.
260 / 0.
170 4 Bradley SMITH GBR Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 280,6 1′53.
441 0.
302 / 0.
042 5 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol Suter 289,9 1′53.
478 0.
339 / 0.
037 6 Simone CORSI ITA Came IodaRacing Project FTR 289,0 1′53.
693 0.
554 / 0.
215 7 Scott REDDING GBR Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 283,2 1′53.
751 0.
612 / 0.
058 8 Randy KRUMMENACHER SWI GP Switzerland Kalex 285,5 1′53.
822 0.
683 / 0.
071 9 Claudio CORTI ITA Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 288,1 1′53.
845 0.
706 / 0.
023 10 Mika KALLIO FIN Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 286,5 1′53.
958 0.
819 / 0.
113 11 Nicolas TEROL SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 Suter 282,8 1′54.
037 0.
898 / 0.
079 12 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 286,1 1′54.
318 1.
179 / 0.
281 13 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM NGM Mobile Forward FTR 282,8 1′54.
521 1.
382 / 0.
203 14 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Technomag-CIP Suter 282,3 1′54.
540 1.
401 / 0.
019 15 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR 283,2 1′54.
613 1.
474 / 0.
073 16 Esteve RABAT SPA Pons 40 HP Tuenti Kalex 285,0 1′54.
688 1.
549 / 0.
075 17 Xavier SIMEON BEL Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 276,9 1′54.
791 1.
652 / 0.
103 18 Julian SIMON SPA Blusens Avintia Suter 286,3 1′54.
810 1.
671 / 0.
019 19 Johann ZARCO FRA JIR Moto2 Motobi 283,6 1′54.
870 1.
731 / 0.
060 20 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT Gresini Suter 280,6 1′54.
928 1.
789 / 0.
058 21 Toni ELIAS SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Suter 285,8 1′54.
932 1.
793 / 0.
004 22 Ricard CARDUS SPA Arguiñano Racing Team AJR 284,0 1′55.
127 1.
988 / 0.
195 23 Alessandro ANDREOZZI ITA Speed Master Speed Up 281,3 1′55.
136 1.
997 / 0.
009 24 Roberto ROLFO ITA Technomag-CIP Suter 287,7 1′55.
319 2.
180 / 0.
183 25 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Cresto Guide MZ MZ-RE Honda 281,9 1′55.
508 2.
369 / 0.
189 26 Max NEUKIRCHNER GER Kiefer Racing Kalex 282,8 1′55.
571 2.
432 / 0.
063 27 Massimo ROCCOLI ITA Desguaces La Torre SAG Bimota 275,7 1′55.
722 2.
583 / 0.
151 28 Axel PONS SPA Pons 40 HP Tuenti Kalex 281,0 1′56.
104 2.
965 / 0.
382 29 Gino REA GBR Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Suter 279,4 1′56.
894 3.
755 / 0.
790 30 Anthony WEST AUS QMMF Racing Team Speed Up 284,2 1′56.
956 3.
817 / 0.
062 31 Marco COLANDREA SWI SAG Team FTR 277,2 1′57.
247 4.
108 / 0.
291 32 Eric GRANADO BRA JIR Moto2 Motobi 275,3 1′57.
432 4.
293 / 0.
185 33 Elena ROSELL SPA QMMF Racing Team Moriwaki 275,2 1′58.
543 5.
404 / 1.
111