Submitted by David Emmett on
With testing for the premier class at Sepang finished, the Moto2 and Moto3 riders took to the track at Valencia on Tuesday. Just about the entire field in both classes rolled out of the pits for the first test of the season, and with the weather improving as the day went on, times soon began to drop. By the end of the day, the fastest men in both classes were lapping under the official lap records.
In the Moto2 class, it was Johann Zarco who was fastest, setting a blistering pace on the Kalex. The Frenchman ended the day with a run that saw him under the pole record on four consecutive laps. Sam Lowes ended the day in 2nd, after a strong first day of testing. Lowes professed himself much happier with the changes to the bike over the winter, the Speed Up now sporting an aluminum swingarm and WP suspension. Reigning Moto2 champion Tito Rabat was third fastest, just behind Lowes, and just under four tenths off the pace of Zarco.
Alex Rins made a very strong debut in the Moto2 class, ending the day in 6th, ahead of his teammate Luis Salom. Former teammate and reigning Moto3 world champion Alex Marquez had a much tougher day, leaving the first day with the 26th fastest time, some three seconds behind Zarco, and over two seconds behind Rins.
In Moto3, newcomer Fabio Quartararo demonstrated why the rules were changed to allow the young Frenchman to move into the Grand Prix paddock a month before he should have been allowed to. The Estrella Galicia rider lapped under the race record, posting four of the five fastest laps set on the day. The only man to trouble the French youngster was Danny Kent, the Englishman posting a very quick time during the second session of the day. Enea Bastianini was the third quickest rider on the day, the Italian confirming the results of his outstanding rookie year. Niccolo Antonelli was fourth fastest, making it a Honda clean sweep of the top times, Miguel Oliveira the first KTM rider in 5th.
Quartararo's times are confirmation of the French youngster's speed. There had been reliable rumors that Quartararo had been lapping at four tenths under the lap record back in November. But there is reason for caution as well. Quartararo is known to be exceptionally quick around Valencia, a track he knows particularly well. How well he will perform once the season gets underway and he starts to race at tracks he doesn't know remains to be seen. Even so, to be this quick this early in his career is a remarkable achievement so far.
Moto2 times:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Kalex | 1:34.754 | ||
| 2 | 22 | Sam Lowes | Speed Up | 1:35.106 | 0.352 | 0.352 |
| 3 | 1 | Tito Rabat | Kalex | 1:35.145 | 0.391 | 0.039 |
| 4 | 12 | Thomas Luthi | Kalex | 1:35.194 | 0.440 | 0.049 |
| 5 | 19 | Xavier Simeon | Kalex | 1:35.264 | 0.510 | 0.070 |
| 6 | 40 | Alex Rins | Kalex | 1:35.630 | 0.876 | 0.366 |
| 7 | 39 | Luis Salom | Kalex | 1:35.687 | 0.933 | 0.057 |
| 8 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Kalex | 1:35.813 | 1.059 | 0.126 |
| 9 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Kalex | 1:35.871 | 1.117 | 0.058 |
| 10 | 3 | Simone Corsi | Kalex | 1:35.895 | 1.141 | 0.024 |
| 11 | 23 | Marcel Schrotter | Tech 3 | 1:35.920 | 1.166 | 0.025 |
| 12 | 95 | Anthony West | Speed Up | 1:36.017 | 1.263 | 0.097 |
| 13 | 60 | Julian Simon | Speed Up | 1:36.130 | 1.376 | 0.113 |
| 14 | 77 | Dominique Aegerter | Kalex | 1:36.209 | 1.455 | 0.079 |
| 15 | 36 | Mika Kallio | Kalex | 1:36.409 | 1.655 | 0.200 |
| 16 | 55 | Hafizh Syahrin | Kalex | 1:36.411 | 1.657 | 0.002 |
| 17 | 7 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | Kalex | 1:36.435 | 1.681 | 0.024 |
| 18 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Kalex | 1:36.456 | 1.702 | 0.021 |
| 19 | 11 | Sandro Cortese | Kalex | 1:36.496 | 1.742 | 0.040 |
| 20 | 25 | Azlan Shah | Kalex | 1:36.743 | 1.989 | 0.247 |
| 21 | 49 | Axel Pons | Kalex | 1:36.791 | 2.037 | 0.048 |
| 22 | 10 | Thitipong Warokorn | Kalex | 1:37.302 | 2.548 | 0.511 |
| 23 | 96 | Louis Rossi | Tech 3 | 1:37.430 | 2.676 | 0.128 |
| 24 | 70 | Robin Mulhauser | Kalex | 1:37.469 | 2.715 | 0.039 |
| 25 | 88 | Ricky Cardus | Tech 3 | 1:37.492 | 2.738 | 0.023 |
| 26 | 73 | Alex Marquez | Kalex | 1:37.773 | 3.019 | 0.281 |
| 27 | 4 | Randy Krummenacher | Kalex | 1:38.121 | 3.367 | 0.348 |
| 28 | 2 | Jesko Raffin | Kalex | 1:38.252 | 3.498 | 0.131 |
| 29 | 66 | Florian Alt | Suter | 1:39.518 | 4.764 | 1.266 |
Moto3 times:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Honda | 1:39.392 | ||
| 2 | 52 | Danny Kent | Honda | 1:39.415 | 0.023 | 0.023 |
| 3 | 33 | Enea Bastianini | Honda | 1:39.669 | 0.277 | 0.254 |
| 4 | 23 | Niccolo Antonelli | Honda | 1:39.784 | 0.392 | 0.115 |
| 5 | 44 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 1:39.805 | 0.413 | 0.021 |
| 6 | 32 | Isaac Viñales | Husqvarna | 1:39.841 | 0.449 | 0.036 |
| 7 | 98 | Karel Hanika | KTM | 1:39.982 | 0.590 | 0.141 |
| 8 | 5 | Romano Fenati | KTM | 1:40.017 | 0.625 | 0.035 |
| 9 | 58 | Juanfran Guevara | Mahindra | 1:40.119 | 0.727 | 0.102 |
| 10 | 88 | Jorge Martin | Mahindra | 1:40.154 | 0.762 | 0.035 |
| 11 | 41 | Brad Binder | KTM | 1:40.221 | 0.829 | 0.067 |
| 12 | 10 | Alexis Masbou | Honda | 1:40.286 | 0.894 | 0.065 |
| 13 | 11 | Livio Loi | Honda | 1:40.317 | 0.925 | 0.031 |
| 14 | 9 | Jorge Navarro | Honda | 1:40.388 | 0.996 | 0.071 |
| 15 | 16 | Andrea Migno | KTM | 1:40.427 | 1.035 | 0.039 |
| 16 | 55 | Andrea Locatelli | Honda | 1:40.447 | 1.055 | 0.020 |
| 17 | 76 | Hiroki Ono | Honda | 1:40.570 | 1.178 | 0.123 |
| 18 | 17 | John Mcphee | Honda | 1:40.592 | 1.200 | 0.022 |
| 19 | 12 | Mateo Ferrari | Mahindra | 1:40.693 | 1.301 | 0.101 |
| 20 | 24 | Tatsuki Suzuki | Mahindra | 1:40.698 | 1.306 | 0.005 |
| 21 | 31 | Niklas Ajo | KTM | 1:40.806 | 1.414 | 0.108 |
| 22 | 95 | Jules Danilo | Honda | 1:40.877 | 1.485 | 0.071 |
| 23 | 65 | Philipp Oettl | KTM | 1:40.985 | 1.593 | 0.108 |
| 24 | 91 | Gabriel Rodrigo | KTM | 1:41.018 | 1.626 | 0.033 |
| 25 | 7 | Efren Vazquez | Honda | 1:41.035 | 1.643 | 0.017 |
| 26 | 22 | Ana Carrasco | KTM | 1:41.430 | 2.038 | 0.395 |
| 27 | 6 | Maria Herrera | Husqvarna | 1:41.454 | 2.062 | 0.024 |
| 28 | 21 | Francesco Bagnaia | Mahindra | 1:41.788 | 2.396 | 0.334 |
| 29 | 29 | Stefano Manzi | Mahindra | 1:41.815 | 2.423 | 0.027 |
| 30 | 2 | Remy Gardner | Mahindra | 1:41.869 | 2.477 | 0.054 |
| 31 | 19 | Alessandro Tonucci | Mahindra | 1:42.197 | 2.805 | 0.328 |
| 32 | 40 | Daryn Binder | Mahindra | 1:42.487 | 3.095 | 0.290 |
Comments
Marquez Jr's pace alarming?
I know he hasn't much time on the bike yet, but Rins is already within a second of the leaders while Alex Marquez seems to be struggling a little bit, over 3 seconds off.
Who knows
Marquez is running times similar to what Josh Herrin did last year at Valencia, preseason. With that being said, here's a tidbit I heard in an interview recently:
Josh Herrin: "one of the biggest problems I had all year was whenever I would tip into a corner, the shield of my helmet would always smack the windscreen.....and we never could fix that problem"
Apologies, I know this isn't even remotely related to the topic here, but I haven't heard anybody talk about this and it's utterly fascinating to me.
Quartararo's age
Marquez becoming World Champ as a 20-year-old, then Miller skipping Moto2 and now Quartararo, a fifteen-year-old, running lap-record-pace right from his first outing in Moto3.
On the one hand, I am amazed by the apparent amount of talent that is currently entering all classes. But on the other hand, it seems that the big teams have become obsessed with grabbing talents - the younger the better. Maybe that's just me. But I feel like 5 or 6 years from now, MotoGP will be a bunch of 18-year-olds with braces braking lap records.
But maybe that's just normal with the sport becoming more and more popular among youngsters in Southern Europe. It seems that MM93 and his peers are just the forerunners of a whole generation of young talents emerging from support programmes like the CEV championship in Spain.
Hopefully Moto America can be in the US what the spanish championship is for Europe.
Sam Lowes
I'll say well done to the lone Brit in Moto 2. I was impressed by Sam on WSS, he had certainly not the fastest straight line bike by a long chalk but won a WC.
However his pre-season testing last year was pretty good but the season was a disappointment. I think this is about the bike and I reckon if that is good this year (and it appears that he now has team-mates) he could do well. He was on his own last year with a different liveried sponsor at virtually every race.
But who knows; that's why racing is brilliant!
Surprised at where AM is, looks like it might take him a while to adapt?
"Lowes professed himself much
Out of curiosity, what material was Lowes' swingarm made from previously? I though CF was banned.
Fabio Quartararo should have
Fabio Quartararo should have the title wrapped up by Brno. Good to see I'll be getting a sizeable return on the money from my house which I have invested on him getting the Moto3 title.
;)
Too early?
Let's not forget this is Moto3 which is anything but predictable. I wouldn't be willing to bet anything on anyone winning a race or a championship.
Not sure Sam Lowes does have
Not sure Sam Lowes does have team-mates. He's the only one run by Speed Up - the other two are run by the Qatari Federation and we don't know yet how much crossover of information there is.
Nakagami wants his air filter back
Seriously, the guy has not been the same since he got busted for the illicit air filter. What gives? He was fighting for podiums up until that point.