Moto2/125 Test Jerez Day 3 - Another Day Lost To Rain

Rain once again ruined testing for the Moto2 test at Jerez, the bad weather chasing the class all over Spain throughout its off-season testing program. Hopes that the weather might brighten up for Monday's session were dashed, the rain falling on and off all day. "These three days at Jerez have been pretty much a waste of time," Tech 3 boss Hervé Poncharal told MotoMatters.com, "Even on Sunday, the track was never really dry, there were wet patches still in places."

Ant West took advantage of the wet conditions in the morning to set the fastest time of the mixed session, ahead of Alex de Angelis and Mike di Meglio, but in the 50 minute qualifying simulation at 4pm, De Angelis moved easily ahead of the rest of the field, ending the session and the day with three quarters of a second advantage over his competitors. Toni Elias confirmed his role as favorite for the title, finishing the day in second spot, the Gresini rider having been at or near the top at every test held so far.

Behind Elias came a surprise. Tech 3's star signing Raffaele de Rosa has struggled to adapt to the Moto2 bikes so far. Along with many of the other former two-stroke riders, the Italian has found it hard to adapt to the harsh engine braking of the Honda CBR600 engine. The standard Suter slipper clutch only mitigates some of the back torque, leaving much more than the 250 and 125 riders are used to dealing with. But De Rosa made a big leap forward at the Jerez test, with a good deal of help from teammate Yuki Takahashi. The Japanese rider raced the first part of the season in MotoGP last year, but perhaps more relevantly, has been closely involved in HRC's Suzuka 8 Hours program, riding a factory CBR1000RR.

This experience, along with Takahashi's extremely methodical way of working, has allowed the Tech 3 rider to be close to the front during testing, while helping develop the chassis the team has built itself and give advice to teammate De Rosa. "Yuki has been a very important asset for us," Hervé Poncharal said. "He has helped Raffaele a lot, and he has developed the bike a lot."

The most notable absentee on the final day of testing was Kenny Noyes. Noyes and Toni Elias have been the only two riders to be consistently in the top three, in every test they have attended, and the Jack&Jones Banderas rider has surprised a lot of observers who are less familiar with the Spanish championship. Noyes and teammate Joan Olive - another former two-stroke rider struggling with the back torque of a four-stroke engine - decided to pack up early and head back to the team's Barcelona base, having already put in plenty of wet weather testing.

In the 125cc class, Tito Rabat headed the severely thinned field in the wet, ahead of the Bancaja Aspars of Bradley Smith and Nico Terol. Of the riders who had dominated in what passed for dry weather at the Andalucian track, Marc Marquez had packed up early due to the weather, while Pol Espargaro could not match his blistering dry pace in the wet.

The Moto2 and 125cc teams now head back to their respective bases, to work on the data they have gathered so far. In a little over two weeks' time, from March 27th to 29th, the support classes will once again convene at Jerez, to continue testing. In the meantime, they will be providing burnt offerings to every deity connected with the climate they can find.

Overall Moto2 times from the final day of testing at Jerez:

Times for the 1st and 2nd sessions below the 125 times.

Overall times for the 125cc class:

Moto2 Times for session 1 (10am to 4pm):

Moto2 times for Session 2 (4pm to 4:50pm):