Cortese heads up final Moto3 practice

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Sandro Cortese was the quickest rider in the third and final practice at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar, with Romano Fenati and Luis Salom completing the top three. The German was unable to better Maverick Viñales' FP2 time however which remains the fastest so far, as the Spaniard placed fourth in the last session.

Sandro Cortese (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was the fastest rider in the third and final practice in Qatar on Friday, as the Moto3™ class ran its final preparations before Saturday's qualifying session. The German rider posted a best time of 2'08.342 to top the timesheet in the 40-minute run, and then pulled off a great save at the end to avoid tarnishing his session with a late crash.

Despite being the best of the session Cortese's time was still not the fastest of the three practices combined. That lap remains Maverick Viñales' (Blusens Avintia) effort from FP2 (2'08.160) which the young Spaniard set on Friday.

Second to Cortese in FP3 was Italian rookie Romano Fenati (Team Italia FMI), who continued to generate excitement about his World Championship debut with a lap of 2'08.376, just 0.034s off top spot. Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) completed the top three at a tenth-of-a-second off Cortese, with Viñales fourth in the final session and just 0.135s off P1.

Miguel Oliveira (Estrella Galicia 0'0), Danny Kent (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0'0) were the final three riders within a second of the top time in the practice, and Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar Team), Alexis Masbou (Caretta Technology) and another newcomer Niccolò Antonelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Moto3) completed the top 10.

Louis Rossi (Racing Team Germany) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Airasia-SIC-Ajo) occupied 11th and 12th positions respectively, and both ended the session with crashes. Jonas Folger's (Iodaracing Project) problematic weekend continued as he encountered further technical issues during the session.

The Moto3 riders will be back on track on Saturday at 6pm local time for qualifying.

source: MotoGP Official

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Danny Kent third but seeking more confidence

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Danny Kent maintained his impressive pre-season testing form in the new Moto3 four-stroke class today when he ended the second day of the final test in Jerez with the third quickest time.

The British teenager set a best pace of 1.47.854 to finish behind pre-season title favourite Maverick Vinales and Red Bull KTM team-mate Sandro Cortese.

Kent finished 0.468s behind Spaniard Vinales, who led the way with a best lap of 1.47.386, which was marginally faster than Cortese’s best pace of 1.47.414 on the opening day.

Kent, who dominated the previous winter test in Jerez, said he was struggling to ride with the same confident feeling this week.

He put that down to an increase in track temperature with the Jerez track again basking in glorious sunshine, though the day was affected by a strong wind blowing.

He told MCN: “I’m still not 100% there and I don’t feel as confident with the bike as I did at the last test. I’m not as confident in the slower corners. Before I could get on the throttle and keep the line.

"But now I get on the throttle and the bike wants to push wide and when I pull it back in it starts to slide. But that could be down to the way I am riding and I’ll have a look at the data. With the hotter temperature, the tyres seem to be reacting a lot differently.

"At the last test they were good for the first four laps but they were really good. But now they last a lot longer but the grip in my opinion is not as good. We’ve got to change the set-up of the bike for it to suit these conditions better.”

Mahindra rider Danny Webb had a disastrous second day and he was languishing down in 22nd place on the timesheets.

His day was dictated by persistent engine problems and he ended with a best time of 1.50.549 to finish over three seconds off the pace.

He was over a second slpwer than the first day and he told MCN: "It has been a disaster. We had an engine problem all day and I think I only managed to get in five decent laps. We've got loads of work to do on the engine to get it more consistent and more powerful."

source: MCN

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Kent continues momentum in Moto3™

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The British rider reported the fastest time again at the Moto3™ pre-season test in Jerez de la Frontera, where the teams picked up the pace on the second day of the three day meet.

Danny Kent reappeared at the top of the list as the fastest rider on day two of the Official Test held at the Jerez circuit in Southern Spain. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider reported a lap time of 1‘47.5, followed by Maverick Viñales (Avintia Racing) who paced two tenths behind the Briton and Hector Faubel (Bankia Aspar) four tenths off Viñales in third.

Sandro Cortese followed up with the fourth quickest of the field, despite a carsh that ended the German rider’s day early, with Miguel Oliveira (Monlau Competición) rounding out the top five times.

Out of a number of crashes today, two produced a red flag, the first of which was that of Alberto Moncayo (Bankia Aspar), the rider who reported the second best time yesterday. After only six laps, the Spanish rider crashed in turn 6 after which he spent several hours in the medical clinic after reporting dizziness. While eventually pronounced to be fine, he was advised to sit out the remainder of the day though he will return to the track tomorrow.

The second red flag appeared after Efren Vasquez (Team Laglisse) and Louis Rossi (Racing Team Germany) collided, both riders emerging unhurt. Also crashing but without consequences were Brazilian rookie Eric Granado and sole Malaysian representative, Zulfahmi Khairuddin (AirAsia-SIC-Ajo).

Track action resumes tomorrow (Saturday) for the third and final day of testing.

Unofficial Moto3 lap times Friday (recorded by teams:

1. Danny Kent (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1’47.5

2. Maverick Viñales (Avintia Racing) 1’47.7

3. Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar Team) 1’48.1

4. Sandro Cortese (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1’48.3 

5. M. Oliveira (Monlau Competición) 1’48.9 

6. A. Moncayo (Bankia Aspar Team) 1’49.0 

7. Niklas Ajo (TT Motion Events Racing) 1’49.5 

8. Arthur Sissis (Red Bull KYM Ajo) 1’50.1

9. A.Márquez (Monlau Competición) 1’50.2

10. Efrén Vázquez (Team Laglisse) 1’50.3 

11. Niccoló Antonelli (San Carlo Gresi 1.’0.6

12. K. Fujii (Technomag CIP-TSR) 1’50.7

13. A. Techer (Technomag CIP-TSR) 1’51.2 

14. Jakub Kornfeil (Redox Ongetta) 1’52.0

source: MotoGP Official

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