Moto2 – Sam Lowes sets rapid Jerez pace on day two
On the second day of Moto2 testing at Jerez it was Speed Up Racing rider Sam Lowes who topped the timesheet.
With warmer and more pleasant conditions at the southern Spanish circuit the pace was hot right from the first of the three sessions on Wednesday, with Lowes going fastest in the morning and then improving his best time in session 2.
The Moto2 sophomore set a rapid 1’42.362 on his Speed Up machine, which was well under the pole record for the track and kept him 0.122s ahead of his nearest rival on the combined timesheet at the end of the day.
Paginas Amarillas HP 40 rider Luis Salom – also about to embark on his second season in the class – was second quickest overall as he worked on the set-up of his Kalex.
Tuesday’s fastest rider Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) is still riding with a 2014 version of the Kalex, but he was third best with a lap time 0.197s down on that of Lowes.
World Champion Tito Rabat finished fourth quickest his best lap coming in the third session of the day, like the fastest times of Salom and Zarco. Rabat trailed Lowes by 0.232s and will hope to top the timesheets on Thursday as the test wraps up.
Completing the Wednesday top five was the improving Axel Pons (AGR Team) who went round in 1’42.678, to outpace his sixth placed teammate Jonas Folger by 0.329s.
The top ten was completed by Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP 40) and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia).
Xavier Simeon (8th – 1’43″151) – “Today we did a very good job, trying various chassis set-up solutions to evaluate all the possibilities available with this bike: some have proved successful, others not; it’s been a very important work, which takes time, and I’m satisfied because it allowed us to better understand which direction to take in the future to improve further. Also today, like yesterday, we were able to put in many kilometers and we have been constant all day. Obviously we want to continue to improve, because today the fastest riders were really strong. Tomorrow we will continue to work and try to take further steps forward”.
Moto3 – Fabio Quartararo shows unbeatable pace at Jerez Moto3 Test day 2
Moto3 rookie Fabio Quartararo was the fastest rider on day two of the smaller class test at Jerez.
The French 15 year-old produced a superb 1’45.918s lap in the second session of the day only adding to the expectation as the Estrella Galicia 0.0 rider prepares for his Grand Prix debut. The Moto3 pole record for the track is a 1’46.173 lap set by Jack Miller last year.
Behind Quartararo on the combined timesheet was Italian rider Niccolo Antonelli (+0.285s) who has joined the Ongetta-Rivacold team for 2015 and is showing good pace in preseason so far. Antonelli appears to be making a smooth transition from the KTM machinery he rode last year to the Honda he will ride in the forthcoming campaign.
Also showing good speed of late is Danny Kent (+0.573s) and he was fastest in the final Wednesday session and third quickest overall on day two, to make it an all Honda top three.
Juanfran Guevara (+0.583) was fourth quickest overall for the Mapfre Mahindra Team with the Indian machine delivering good performance. Also on the Mahindra in the new factory team is Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup champion Jorge Martin and he was fifth quickest on Wednesday (+0.618s).
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Enea Bastianini (Junior Team Gresini Moto3), Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0.0), Niklas Ajo (RBA Racing Team) and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completed the top ten.
4th Juanfran Guevara 1.46.501: “Like yesterday we continued work today on the rear shock, trying to improve the feeling in corner entry. We altered the ride height and weight distribution of the bike and found some positive results. We also took a step forward with the engine braking and I was able to get the bike stopped better today without running wide in the hard-braking corners. We also improved the gearbox but we still need to iron some things out. I am happy but we need to keep working hard because everybody is flying around here.”
5th Jorge Martín 1.46.536: “It felt a little strange this morning because we tried some new rear shocks that caused us to lose traction on the rear. We were trying to get the shock to work harder without using up the rubber too quickly and once we managed to do that we put some fresh tyres in and stepped up the pace. We ran a soft tyre in the final session but this produced some chatter in the front. Even so I am still very happy because we improved the lap time by six tenths from yesterday.”
7th Enea Bastianini 1.46.747: “Today we worked well, covering more laps than yesterday. I have also set a good lap time, even though there is still work to do, because in the third and final session available I struggled a bit; I couldn’t be as fast as I wanted and I found some things I want to improve. Whit new tyres, for example, I started to feel some chatter. It should be said that already in the second session we found the right path, so tomorrow we’ll go back and start again from there”.
