The private three-day test at the Circuito de Jerez concluded on Wednesday, with Randy De Puniet and Aleix Espargaró the fastest CRTs in the field on their Power Electronics Aspar bike. The Test also saw James Ellison and Danilo Petrucci wrapping up the first test on their respective machines.
Power Electronics Aspar riders De Puniet and Espargaró were the CRT pace men on the third and final day of private MotoGP™ testing , the Frenchman recording the best lap of 1'40.3. De Puniet’s time was three tenths off of the time set by the satellite GP12 of Héctor Barberá (Pramac Racing Team), who was in attendance for the last day of the test.
De Puniet spent the final day adjusting the electronics to improve suspension response and the rear grip of his ART, and reported being delighted with the potential of the bike overall. His pace set today was less than one second off the track lap record set by Pedrosa in 2010 (1’39.731), and with room for improvement still present, he expects the ART machines to continue their progress before the opening 2012 round at Qatar on April 8th.
Espargaró managed to lap within eight tenths of the top time set by his team-mate, declaring he didn't expect such a large improvement (1.5s) from day one. The Spaniard told motogp.com that additional room for improvement still remains with the bike’s set-up when using the hard compound Bridgestones, and that he was very satisfied with his final results of the three days.
Héctor Barberá concluded his one day test aboard the satellite GP12, the same test Ducati that caught fire as well as suffering significant additional damaged to the front end and chassis in Karel Abraham’s (Cardion AB Motoracing) crash yesterday. The Ducati technicians worked through the night and presented the Desmosedici to the Spaniard, who was then able to post a best time of 1’40.0 on the repaired machine.
James Ellison completed his first shakedown round on the Paul Bird Motorsport ART, concentrating on getting himself comfortable with the bike without pushing it to the limits. The Briton managed to lap just under two seconds faster than his best lap time yesterday and said that the bike will definitely further improve when the team receives additional parts they are waiting on.
In the Speed Master garage, Mattia Pasini concluded his second test on his team’s ART by shaving an additional seven tenths off his best run from Monday. The Italian told motogp.com that he is more than happy to have dropped nearly a second on each consecutive day of the test.
Danilo Petrucci was another rider to get his first taste of his 2012 race machine, concluding his first test on the Ioda Racing Project CRT with an improvement of 1.7 seconds over his time from yesterday. The Italian had a minor crash in the morning but was able to return to the track to resume working on electronic development of the Ioda bike.
The teams and riders now have one week to work with the data gathered before the next private test session on the 8th and 9th of March at Aragón.
Unofficial lap times Wednesday (recorded by teams):
MotoGP
- Héctor Barberá, Ducati 1’40.0
MotoGP (CRT)
1. Randy De Puniet, ART 1'40.3 (66 laps)
2. Aleix Espargaró, ART 1’41.1 (60 laps)
3. Mattia Pasini, ART 1'41.29 (47 laps)
4. Danilo Petrucci, IODA 1'41.6 (62 laps)
5. James Ellison, ART 1'42.526 (53 laps)
source: MotoGP Official
