The new World Championship category continues the countdown to its first race ever, with over 30 riders on track in Jerez preparing for the start of the season.
Just as in the Valencia Test last week, cold morning temperatures prevented the riders in the new Moto3™ class from entering the track before 10:30am, with Kenta Fuji the first to test the conditions on his Technomag-CIP-TSR Honda. The day gradually warmed and the afternoon presented better testing conditions for the more than 30 riders.
Danny Kent lead the reported times with a lap of 1’48.4 on day one of the second Official Test of 2012 held at the Circuito de Jerez in southern Spain. Both Kent and team mate Sandro Cortese, who submitted the third fastest time, reported being very pleased with the Red Bull Ajo KTM package and were both instantly comfortable on the bike at Jerez just as they were in the last test at Valencia.
Aspar Team rider Alberto Moncayo was second fastest, as he focused his efforts on engine speed and suspension settings, reporting he was pleased with how the first day in Jerez went. Teammate Hector Faubel had the chance to test a new chassis Kalex had prepared for the test, and the young Spanish rider will continue testing with the same bike tomorrow after reportedly being delighted with the new equipment.
Season favorite, Maverick Viñales (Avintia Racing) sought to top the field on the first day of testing, and the new Repsol rider completed a full day of testing though his times were not given.
Missing from this round of testing were MZ Racing’s Jonas Folger and Toni Finsterbusch of Racing Team Germany.
Unofficial Moto3 lap times Thursday (recorded by teams). Teams missing from this list did not provide times:
1. Danny Kent (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1’48.4
2. Alberto. Moncayo (Bankia Aspar Team) 1’48.7 (51 laps)
3. Sandro Cortese (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1’49.2
4. Miguel Oliveira (Monlau Competición) 1’49.2 (70 laps)
5. Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar Team) 1’49.8
6. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (AirAsia Sic Ajo) 1’49.5
7. Niklas Ajo (TT Motion Events Racing) 1’50.4
8. Alex Márquez (Monlau Competición) 1’50.6 (36 laps)
9. Danny Webb (Mahindra Racing) 1’50.9
9. Efrén Vázquez (Team Laglisse) 1’50.9
10. Adrián Martin (Team laglisse) 1’51.7 (31 laps)
source: MotoGP Official
