Xavi Vierge topped a tight free practice Friday for the Moto2 class ahead of Sunday's German Grand Prix, with Alex Marquez just 0.025 seconds adrift in second.
2014 German Grand Prix winner Dominique Aegerter led the way at the end of a tight opening session to the Sachsenring weekend, the Kiefer Racing rider just 0.026s clear of Italtrans' Andrea Locatelli.
Fabio Quartararo – who has been heavily linked to a shock move to the Petronas Yamaha MotoGP team – set the early pace in FP1 at 1:26.016s, though this was steadily bettered across the 45 minutes, with Locatelli, Miguel Oliveira and Iker Lecuona all taking turns at the head of the timesheets.
Aegerter fired in a 1:25.172s in the closing moments to snatch top spot from Locatelli, while Lorenzo Baldassarri guided his Pons machine to third.
Oliveira was shuffled back to fourth at the chequered flag ahead of Lecuona, while the likes of Joan Mir and Francesco Bagnaia endured low-key FP1s in 19th and 25th.
Bagnaia spent the morning testing set-ups and new parts on behalf of Kalex, though suffered a similarly difficult second session after crashing at the Omega corner at mid distance.
Once again, top spot changed hands a number of times in the early stages of FP2, with Mir, Lecuona, Simone Corsi and Xavi Viegre occupying first place.
Lecuona's run was halted after crashed at the Sachsen Kurve six minutes in, but was able to rejoin the action late on. His CGBM Evolution KTM teammate Sam Lowes took over top spot moments after he fell with a 1:24.922s.
The Briton was deposed by home hero Marcel Schrotter, who edged ahead with a 1:24.883s, before improving to a 1:24.779s, which stood as the time to beat until the closing few minutes.
The session was brought to a brief halt with just under 11 minutes remaining as the air fence at Turn 2 was fixed following a collision between Stefano Manzi and Federico Fuligni, with the latter being taken down.
Schrotter's Intact GP teammate Vierge deposed him with a 1:24.750s with four minutes to go, while Marquez guided his Marc VDS Kalex up to second with a 1:24.775s ahead of Schrotter.
Khairul Idham Pawi, who was 26th in FP1, was an impressive fourth aboard his Team Asia machine, while Bagnaia recovered from his tumble to end the day fifth ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri.
Mattia Pasini mde several assaults on top spot towards the end of FP2, but continually lost time in the final sector, and could do no better than seventh. Brad Binder – who crashed in FP1 – Lowes and Simone Corsi completed the top 10.
Suzuki-bound Mir was just a few hundredths outside of the top 10 in 11th, while Lecuona and Quartararo fell to 15th and 17th on the timesheets.
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