Australia’s Gardner an impressive seventh in Spain.
Image: Supplied.
Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) was the fastest Moto2 man on the second day of the official Moto2 and Moto3 Test at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto, with a 1m41.208s enough to edge out the KTM of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) by 0.076s and the Speed Up of Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) by 0.094s.
That continued the trend of close competition from the first day of track action, although conditions were much windier on day two. Behind the top trio came Lorenzo Baldassarri (FlexBox HP40) in fourth, less than a tenth back, with day one’s quickest man, Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), completing the top five.
Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) took P6, ahead of Australian Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and EG 0,0 Marc VDS new arrival Xavi Vierge.
Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) completed the top ten and was the fastest rookie despite a crash, with Iker Lecuona (American Racing KTM) splitting him from the next debutants – Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) in P12 and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) just behind. Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) locked out the top 15.
In Moto3, Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) topped the second day, setting a 1m46.455s in windier conditions. But as it was on Wednesday, there were three riders within a tenth at the top and Canet was closely followed by Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) and day one’s fastest Tony Arbolino (Snipers Team).
The Italian remains fastest overall, however, and was the fastest Honda after KTM flipped the trend to take a 1-2 on day two. Next up was Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) in fourth as he pipped teammate and day two crasher Marcos Ramirez, with the two Estrella Galicia 0,0 machines also two-by-two just behind. Alonso Lopez was just ahead of rookie teammate Sergio Garcia by half a tenth, with both showing good pace.
Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was further up on Thursday as he took P8 overall, just ahead of Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46). Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) completed the top 10, another rookie who impressed.
Nicccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3), Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Team), the returning Romano Fenati (Snipers Team) and reigning FIM CEV Repsol Moto3 Junior World Champion Raul Fernandez (Angel Nieto Team) completed the fastest fifteen.
Rookie Tom Booth-Amos (CIP – Green Power) was one crasher and he dented his track time, and compatriot John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) also suffered an off.
Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia), Ramirez and Antonelli all crashed at Turn 11 within a few minutes of each other, but the incidents were unrelated. Action continues tomorrow at Jerez.
Source: CycleOnline.com.au