Espargaró and Viñales the best of the combined times in the Moto2 and Moto3 test at Jerez

The final day of the official Moto2 and Moto3 World Championship test at the Jerez circuit was heavily affected by water. Without a doubt, the rain and the bad weather were once again the protagonists of the last testing day at the Andalusian track, so very little work could be done, and many riders decided either not to go out or to ride only in the first sessions and leave early, resulting in little activity in the final hours of the official test.

The first session of today began with Nico Terol as the fastest in Moto2 with a time of 1:54.860, followed by Redding almost three tenths behind, so the Team Aspar rider continues to look very strong in this preseason. Meanwhile, the top 10 was completed by Kent 3rd, Zarco 4th, Cardús 5th, Simeon 6th, Torres 7th, West 8th, Smith 9th and Elías 10th. In Moto3, in this first combined track session, we saw Alex Rins take 1st with a time of 1:58.495, followed by Márquez almost seven tenths behind. The top 10 was completed by Miller 3rd, Oliveira 4th, Loi 5th, Vázquez 6th, Sissis 7th, Khairuddin 8th, Fenati 9th and McPhee 10th, with Guevara in 19th position.

After that combined session, it was Moto3’s turn in its solo session, with Miller setting a 1:58.354, followed by Kornfeil more than two tenths behind, and with Fenati 3rd, Oliveira 4th, Márquez 5th, McPhee 6th, Khairuddin 7th, Sissis 8th, Iwema 9th and Alt 10th. Then it was Moto2’s turn in its solo session at the Andalusian track, with Cardús as the fastest with a time of 1:55.326, followed by Nakagami 2nd, Aegerter 3rd, Di Meglio 4th, Schrötter 5th, Kallio 6th, West 7th, Elías 8th, Torres 9th and Odendaal 10th. In the last combined training session there was almost nobody on track, so there is not much to mention about it, as most riders had already stopped.

On this day so complicated by the track conditions and the bad weather, the fastest was Nico Terol in Moto2 with a time of 1:54.860, followed by Kent 0.285s behind, Kent 3rd, Zarco 4th, Cardús 5th, Simeon 6th, Nakagami 7th, Aegerter 8th, Torres 9th and West 10th; with Elías 12th, the rest of the Spanish riders did not go out. In Moto3, the fastest of the day was Miller with 1:58.354, followed by Rins 0.141s behind, Kornfeil 3rd, Fenati 4th, Oliveira 5th, Márquez 6th, McPhee 7th, Khairuddin 8th, Sissis 9th and Loi 10th; with Vázquez 13th and Guevara 19th, the rest of the Spanish riders did not go out.

In the combined standings for the three days, our riders are dominating, with Spanish riders once again at the top in both categories, with Maverick Viñales as the best in Moto3 with his 1:46.805 set in yesterday’s third session, followed by Rins 0.006s behind, then Salom 3rd, Folger 4th, Oliveira 5th, Guevara 6th, Binder 7th, Vázquez 8th, Webb 9th and Kornfeil 10th. The other home riders placed in the combined general classification at 12th I. Viñales, 15th Márquez and 22nd Carrasco. Meanwhile, in Moto2 the best was Pol Espargaró with his time of 1:42.332 set in yesterday’s session 3, followed by Nakagami 0.299s behind, then Redding 3rd, Simón 4th, Terol 5th, Rabat 6th, Kallio 7th, Torres 8th, Zarco 9th and Aegerter 10th. The rest of our riders placed in the combined general classification of the three days at 13th Pons, 17th Elías, 22nd Cardús and 31st Moncayo.

End of a new test for Moto2 and Moto3, on to the next one.

Statements from Maverick Viñales:

We were able to ride for two days, and we did it quite well, very comfortably and above all working hard. The first day helped me get to know this bike in the wet, and I finished very happy because we went from less to more and always with lots of confidence. In the dry the bike again gave me very good feelings, because although we had some small problems with the braking, we managed to set a great time and, above all, to improve on last year’s. I am very happy with the work of the team and of KTM, because although small problems come up as we increase the pace, we are solving them.

Statements from Nico Terol:

This third day was soaked by water. We would have liked to ride in the dry to draw more conclusions, but this condition also suited us well for testing with the track very wet this midday. We worked in runs of five laps to improve the setup we have for wet conditions. We decided to end the day earlier than planned, since the track was as it was and it would have been foolish to take risks. The team has worked to perfection, which is why I have the bike very much in hand and ready for any kind of condition. I leave Jerez very happy, the balance of the first two training sessions of the year is exceptional. The important thing is that we are being very consistent and steady in any kind of condition. I would have liked to ride one more day in the dry, but I am saving that pent-up energy for the next tests in March, the final test before the season starts.

Statements from Jordi Torres:

Today was a rather strange and difficult day to work. It rained, it was also windy and visibility was poor. Today the idea was to ride with the new chassis on the dry asphalt, but the weather gave us no respite. So we set up the bike with a wet configuration, and we focused on doing laps to get a feel for it. We did a couple of tests to try to remove some stiffness from the bike, but we did not draw any clear conclusions. In the afternoon the rain stopped and we added a few more laps; in general the track was not offering much satisfaction today. Even so, I leave Jerez very happy because yesterday we did a great job, and we are meeting our objectives.

Photo | MotoGP Official website and teams