First Day of Private Valencia Test For Moto2 and Moto3 Teams - Favorites and Rookies Impress

Submitted by David Emmett on

Testing season is picking up now, with the Moto2 and Moto3 teams also taking to the track in greater numbers. Today, a large group of teams gathered at the Valencia circuit to prepare for the 2016 season, including some twenty Moto3 riders and eight Moto2 riders. The weather was far from ideal, with rain calling an early halt to proceedings, but the teams and riders still got in an average of forty laps apiece.

Though it was only one day, the times set - unofficial, reported by the teams to circuit staff, and therefore not entirely reliable - were reasonably fast. Outside of fastest man Johann Zarco in Moto2, the times were about a second off lap record. 2015 Moto2 champion Zarco was in a league of his own, nine tenths quicker than the rest of the pack. In the Moto3 class, it was another preseason favorite heading up the timesheets, Brad Binder setting the fastest time, though only by a narrow margin.

Behind the favorites, what impressed was the speed of the rookies. In Moto2, Danny Kent - more of a returnee than a rookie - was second fastest, level with former race winner and regular contender Jonas Folger, and four tenths quicker than Sandro Cortese. Kent's teammate Miguel Oliveira is taking longer getting up to speed, finishing nine tenths behind Kent, and 1.8 seconds behind Zarco.

Alex Rins was also present, though his name did not appear on the timesheets. That is because Rins was testing on his own, and not with this team, riding a Yamaha R6 instead of his Kalex Moto2 machine, supported by his friends and family, rather than his official HP Pons team and mechanics. This allows Rins to take part in the test without using any of his allocation of official test day, while still getting a feeling for the track and the speed of his rivals. 

Rookie riders were even more impressive in the Moto3 class. Joan Mir, Leopard Racing's young Spanish rookie, took second spot, a tenth behind Binder and two tenths ahead of his teammate Fabio Quartararo. Italian youngster Niccolo Bulega was the fastest of the Sky VR46 team, just edging his teammate Romao Fenati. Dutch youngster and Red Bull Rookies champion Bo Bendsneyder was equally impressive, posting the seventh fastest time, seven tenths behind his much more experienced teammate Brad Binder.

Testing continues on Friday.  

Unofficial times, courtesy of the teams and the Valencia Circuit:

Moto2:

Pos No Rider Bike Time Diff Prev
1 5 Johann Zarco Kalex 1:35.3    
2 52 Danny Kent Kalex 1:36.2 0.9 0.9
3 94 Jonas Folger Kalex 1:36.2 0.9 0.0
4 11 Sandro Cortese Kalex 1:36.6 1.3 0.4
5 97 Xavi Vierges Tech 3 1:37.0 1.7 0.4
6 44 Miguel Oliveira Kalex 1:37.1 1.8 0.1
7 32 Isaac Viñales Tech 3 1:37.4 2.1 0.3

Moto3:

Pos No Rider Bike Time Diff Prev
1 41 Brad Binder KTM 1:40.4    
2 36 Joan Mir KTM 1:40.5 0.1 0.1
3 20 Fabio Quartararo KTM 1:40.7 0.3 0.2
4 8 Niccolo Bulega KTM 1:40.7 0.3 0.0
5 5 Romano Fenati KTM 1:40.8 0.4 0.1
6 33 Enea Bastianini Honda 1:41.0 0.6 0.2
7 64 Bo Bendsneyder KTM 1:41.1 0.7 0.1
8 9 Jorge Navarro Honda 1:41.2 0.8 0.1
9 11 Livio Loi Honda 1:41.3 0.9 0.1
10 19 Gabi Rodrigo KTM 1:41.3 0.9 0.0
11 55 Andrea Locatelli KTM 1:41.5 1.1 0.2
12 95 Jules Danilo Honda 1:41.5 1.1 0.0
13 89 Khairul Idham Pawi Honda 1:42.0 1.6 0.5
14 76 Hiroki Ono Honda 1:42.2 1.8 0.2
15 84 Jakub Kornfeil Honda 1:42.2 1.8 0.0
16 58 Juanfran Guevara KTM 1:42.3 1.9 0.1
17 4 Fabio di Giannantonio Honda 1:42.5 2.1 0.2
18 7 Adam Norrodin Honda 1:42.9 2.5 0.4
19 16 Andrea Migno KTM 1:42.9 2.5 0.0
NC 23 Niccolo Antonelli Honda      

 

2016
Moto2
Moto3
Valencia, Spain
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Comments

doc_al replied on

Can't wait to see what this looks like when the season gets under way, especially moto3. So many promising rookies.

stv21 replied on

Big fan of Joan Mir, the kid has some true speed in him, as demonstrated also last year in the CEV. If he only manages his crash habit and calms down a bit during the races, he should be able to mix it up at the top fairly quickly.

Curious to see how the Rookies fare in Moto2 further down the road. Oliveira seems to be once again taking the slow and methodical road, but that has put people like Zarco and Smith in good stead in the past, so I can't wait for the first rounds of the year which should show his true potential over race distance. Xavi Vierge is making the Tech3 look pretty good as well. And intriguing strategy from Rins, very clever approach. Should be a massive battle for the title this year in the small classes, can't wait. :)

ants24 replied on

Ride a Yamaha R6. Is that some kind of a strategy to attract Yamaha motogp's attention on him? Just curious

David Emmett replied on

The Moto2 and Moto3 teams are restricted to 10 days of testing a year. If they want to test more, they need to use a road bike. However, they are also prohibited from using road bikes of the same capacity and manufacturer as the bike they race on. In effect, that means Moto2 riders can't use Honda CBR600s for practice, at least not on GP tracks. So a lot have switched to the Yamaha R6, as the best sports 600.