Fabio Di Giannantonio was quickest on Day 1 at the Zcech Grand Prix, although the number 21 only 0.035 ahead of Nicolo Bulega by the end of play.
The two rookies impressed to take to the top at the track that saw ‘Diggia’ take his first Grand Prix win in Moto3 last season, with another impressive performance completing the top three but this from veteran Tetsuta Nagashima. The Japanese rider was fastest in FP1 and ended the day within 0.063 of the top.
The sky looked fairly threatening as the day went on, but nevertheless the vast majority improved their laptimes, not least Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP), as the German moved up from P22 to lead for the majority of the session before ultimately ending the day in fourth overall. It was by the tiniest of margins, however, with Augusto Fernandez just 0.001 in arrears as he completed the top five.
Brno 2017 winner Tom Lüthi ended Friday in sixth, just 0.016 further back, with the man marginally ahead of him in the Championship, Alex Marquez, this time marginally behind him. After a tougher morning session, the number 73 took seventh, 0.061 off…and just 0.010 ahead of Jorge Navarro. The trend continued for Sam Lowes as the Brit ended Friday in ninth by just 0.005.
Luca Marini completes the top ten and beat Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder to the honour, with new Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 rider Mattia Pasini down in P12 with his FP1 time. The Italian suffered a sizeable crash in FP2. Enea Bastianini was 13th, with Lorenzo Baldassarri completing the fastest 14 and the provisional graduates to Q2.
Remy Gardner was the first to lose out and the Australian will be keen to see the rain hold off in that all-important FP3 session on Saturday morning.
Steven Odendaal crashed twice in FP2, and in other news, Dimas Ekky Pratama will sit out the rest of the weekend as he continues to recover from his crash at Assen.
Khairul Idham Pawi will also miss the remainder of the weekend. The Malaysian made his return to the intermediate class on Friday in Brno after several months on the sidelines, but will ultimately not ride in the Czech GP. Jonas Folger will step into the Petronas Sprinta Racing squad as his replacement once again.
Will the skies stay dry for the third session of the weekend? FP3 goes green at 10:55 local time (GMT+2) before qualifying from 15:05.
