Smith claims provisional front row

Bradley Smith’s hopes of a career best world 125 championship finish in Le Mans were given a massive lift this afternoon when the Repsol Honda claimed a place on the provisional front row.

Smith ended the 30-minute session with the third best time as he continued his brilliant start to the French GP weekend. He’d clocked the fastest time in this morning’s opening free practice session and missed out on provisional pole by just 0.740s this afternoon.

He set his best time of 1.45.148 on the 11th of 12 laps he completed and was only beaten by Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi, who is currently second in the standings, and pre-season world title favourite Mattia Pasini.

The Oxfordshire rider is currently 13th in the series standings with 20-points from the opening four races.