The Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding went under the current lap record to top the timesheet during today’s second free practice session in Jerez, but the 20-year-old Briton ended the day second on combined times, just 0.2s off the time set by Tito Rabat during this morning’s 45-minute free practice session.

While Redding was happy with the day’s work, the same wasn’t true of his Marc VDS teammate, Mika Kallio. The 30-year-old Finn ended the day in 15th position on combined times, after struggling with rear grip issues throughout both of today’s 45-minute free practice sessions.

Livio Loi’s Grand Prix debut got off to a solid start in Jerez. The 16-year-old Belgian ended his first day as an official Moto3 rider 20th on the timesheet, after improving his lap time by more than a second in this afternoon’s free practice session. Loi was confident that he could have gone faster, but was forced to end the session early due to severe chatter from a well-used front tyre.

Scott Redding #45: 2nd – 1’43.551
“It’s been a good day overall. We had a few issues in this morning’s session, but we made some changes to the bike and from the first lap this afternoon it was red, red, red on the timing screens. When you’re seeing P1 on your pit board and you don’t feel like you’re going fast then that builds a lot of confidence. The bike was working really well and I set my fastest time on used tyres, so we know our race set-up is already pretty good. We’ve got a few little things to look at, where we can maybe make some small improvements, but we’re pretty much there.”

Mika Kallio #36: 15th – 1’44.638
“It’s been difficult today, as I was struggling a lot with rear grip in both sessions. It was a horrible feeling. None of the changes we made to the bike, and we made quite a few, brought any improvements in rear grip at all. Every lap I had the same problems in the same corners. Obviously we need to make some bigger changes to the bike tonight to improve things, but we need to analyse the data closely first. The changes need to be in the right direction because if we go the wrong way then I’ll lose tomorrow’s final free practice session and we’ll be forced to run an untested set-up in qualifying.”

Livio Loi #11: 20th – 1’49.643
“I tested here earlier in the year, so I knew what to expect today, but it was still a bit special to ride out of pit lane for my first ever Grand Prix practice session this morning. The first session was not so bad, but we tried some new brake pads in the front that didn’t really work as expected, which meant I dropped down the timesheet as the others improved towards the end. This afternoon was better and I was running top 12 after taking over a second off my lap time, but then we put in a new rear tyre and immediately I had chatter at the front. Again it meant I wasn’t able to push at the end and I finished 20th as others improved. Without the chatter I think it was possible to get closer to the 1’48.5 I did during testing here and that’s the goal for tomorrow.”

Peter Benson: Chief Mechanic, Scott Redding
“I’m really happy with today. We’ve had a few issues in Jerez before, trying to get the bike balanced in all the corners. Today we made a few little changes that we’ve been thinking about for a while but never got around to trying, all of which have been really positive so far. Scott did some very fast and consistent lap times this afternoon and he’s happy with the feeling on the bike, so I’m quite satisfied at the moment.”