2011 Valencia Moto2 Test Day 1 Results: Espargaro, Rabat And Redding Lead Kalex Clean Sweep

Submitted by David Emmett on

Pol Espargaro was the fastest Moto2 rider out of the box on the first of three days of testing for the Moto2 class at Valencia. The Spaniard, who has switched to join Sito Pons' team for 2012, was two tenths faster than his new teammate Tito Rabat, who rode for the BQR team in 2011. Scott Redding was 3rd fastest, matching the time of Rabat and very pleased with the new bike, the Marc VDS team having switched to Kalex for 2012. Andrea Iannone was the first non-Kalex rider on the timesheets, the Italian also switching chassis, going back to use an FTR chassis for next season. Aleix Espargaro was the first of the Suter riders, the older of the Espargaro brothers having vacated the bike taken by his younger brother Pol to join Aspar, while Gino Rea was the fastest man on a Moriwaki, the British rider close to a deal with the Gresini team to bring his Russian sponsor into Moto2 for 2012.

Unofficial times at the end of day 1, courtesy of the Valencia Circuit Twitter Feed:

Pos. Rider Team Bike Time Diff Previous
1 Pol Espargaró Team Pons Kalex 1:36.0    
2 Tito Rabat Team Pons Kalex 1:36.2 0.2 0.2
3 Scott Redding Marc VDS Kalex 1:36.2 0.2 0.0
4 Andrea Iannone Speed Master FTR 1:36.8 0.8 0.6
5 Aleix Espargaró Team Aspar Suter 1:37.3 1.3 0.5
6 Gino Rea Gresini Moriwaki 1:37.3 1.3 0.0
7 Mika Kallio Marc VDS Kalex 1:37.6 1.6 0.3
8 Johann Zarco JiR Motobi 1:37.7 1.7 0.1
9 Claudio Corti Italtrans Suter 1:37.8 1.8 0.1
10 Angel Rodriguez Team SAG FTR 1:37.8 1.8 0.0
11 Ratthapark Wilairot Team SAG FTR 1:38.2 2.2 0.4
12 Alessandro Andreozzi   FTR 1:38.2 2.2 0.0
13 Takaaki Nakagami Italtrans Suter 1:38.3 2.3 0.1
14 Nico Terol Team Aspar Suter 1:40.4 4.4 2.1
15 Jonas Folger MZ FTR 1:40.6 4.6 0.2
16 Eric Granado JiR Motobi 1:41.2 5.2 0.6

Circuit Record Lap: Karel ABRAHAM 1'36.611 - 2010

Circuit Best Lap: Toni ELIAS 1'36.141 - 2010

2011
Tweet Button: 
Bookmark/Search this post with
  • Twitter logo
  • Reddit logo
  • LinkedIn logo
  • StumbleUpon logo
  • Google logo
  • del.icio.us logo
  • Digg logo
  • Yahoo logo

↑Back to top

Comments

RobboNL replied on

Regarding Gino Rea: if you mean 'Crimea' sponsorship. That must be depending on/related to Vladimir Ivanov. Since he was in Gresini Moto2 before, and in 2011 with Step racing in SS600 as team mate of Gino.

nacho replied on

Any lap times of Hofmann testing the Aprilia with Bridgestones and carbon brakes?

Ryan Eckford replied on

I wouldn't read too much into these times. I think Marc Marquez is the red-hot favourite for the 2012 Moto2 World Championship, almost a near certainty to win it. I think he is capable of giving Casey Stoner a great challenge in MotoGP from 2013 onwards.

GrahamB29 replied on

might have to drop his prices a bit for next year then.

Luc Marqs replied on

>> Suter might have to drop his prices a bit for next year then. <<

hehe... some discounts sure make sense these days! :-)

I think Suter created their own problem by favoring some teams with the 2012 chassis later in this season, leaving other Suter teams without such option, even when there was demand.
That was not the best customer service as those teams said...