Randy De Puniet continues to lead the MotoGP™ CRT field, while British rider James Ellison made his first laps on the ART prototype of the Paul Bird Racing team on the second day of the private test at Jerez.
Day two of private testing wrapped up for five riders aboard CRT prototypes, plus Karel Abraham on a satellite Ducati and Franco Battaini test riding for Ducati.
Joining the new Claiming Rule Team bikes on track was Briton James Ellison of the Paul Bird Motorsport Team, who today made his first laps on the ART bike ahead of his return to the World Championship five years after finishing his last race in the premier class. Ellison reported being quite satisfied with the ART bike, although only completing 36 laps, with a best time of 1’44.4.
Randy De Puniet was again the fastest rider aboard a CRT, the Frenchman set a best time of 1’40.9 at the controls of the Power Electronics Aspar Team ART while continuing to try new options with the electronics package. Despite struggling with grip levels today, De Puniet managed to complete the day 7 tenths of a second faster than his time from Monday.
Teammate Aleix Espargaró returned to the track after leaving early yesterday due to feeling ill, though the Spaniard was not able to get a good feeling on the bike today and crashed twice. "The main problem is holding a line in the fast corners. I’m losing feeling and running wide on the exit," explained the Aspar rider, who matched his best time of 1’42.6 set on Monday.
Mattia Pasini’s second day proved productive as the 26 year old bettered his time by 1.3 seconds on the Speed Master ART, just over a second behind the fastest rider on the track.
Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) joined the test this morning, completing 46 laps before a crash in which his GP12 went up in flames, causing huge damage to the front end and chassis. The Czech rider escaped without serious injury but the Ducati team now have a big job to get the bike fixed for Hector Barbera (Pramac Racing) to ride tomorrow, as the Spaniard was to share the satellite Ducati with Abraham for one day each of testing. Ducati are hopeful that their mechanics can repair the bike tonight for the third and final day of testing.
Danilo Petrucci was the source of another red flag when he crashed his Ioda Racing machine after matching his best time of 1’43.3 of yesterday. The 21 year old Italian told motogp.com that he is not 100% sure that the team will be able to reassemble the bike in time for the last day of testing tomorrow, an important day as the Italian claims there is still a lot of work to be done on the electronics.
source: MotoGP Official
