Gino Rea is edging closer to a switch to the Moto2 World Championship in 2012 after impressing during testing at Valencia.
The Briton, who has spent the last two seasons competing in the World Supersport Championship – winning his first race at Brno –, jumped aboard the Gresini Moriwaki to set an unofficial best time of 1min 36.4secs.
Managing 33 laps aboard the bike, which won at the season-ending Valencia round in the hands of Michele Pirro, Rea's fine pace has put him in with a good shot at Yuki Takahashi's available Gresini seat.
Rea's pace in Spain was matched by Claudio Corti, riding the Italtrans bike, while Marc VDS duo Scott Redding and Mika Kallio were third and fourth as they become better acquainted with the Kalex chassis.
Behind them, Andrea Iannone, recently confirmed as staying in Moto2 with Speed Master, was fifth quickest, ahead of Takaaki Nakagami on the second Italtrans bike and Toni Elias, the former champion returning to the Moto2 ranks in 2012 after agreeing a deal with Aspar.
His new team-mate Nico Terol, the last-ever 125GP champion, was ninth best, just behind former rival Johann Zarco on the JiR MotoBI machine.
source: crash
