Bendsneyder 24th on first day Jerez test

The second Official Test for Moto2™ and Moto3™ began on Monday, with three days of running giving the intermediate and lightweight classes some more track time ahead of the season opener in Qatar. On Day 1 it was Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) who went quickest, with a 1:42.330 to go 0.166 ahead of second fastest Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS). Sky Racing Team VR46 and EG 0,0 Marc VDS were absent from the first test at Valencia and hit back in style. It began dry before some rain in the middle of the day, but the sun was back out in the afternoon and the track dried out fast enough. Bagnaia set his fastest lap late on, a few tenths quicker than in the morning. Behind the fastest duo at the top, Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) was third quickest and 0.062 off Marquez, with Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) breaking the stranglehold of Kalex to take fourth for KTM – again by much less than a tenth. The close timesheets saw every rider within a tenth of the man in front from second down to P14 – a tantalising prospect for the season. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP 40) rounded out the top five ahead of compatriot Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), who was within half a second of his teammate at the top. The VR46-backed squad are one of the few to have a more major change for this year, switching from Öhlins suspension to WP. Veteran Italian Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) added more Italian representation to the top ten in seventh, ahead of Xavi Vierge in P8 as the Spaniard settles in on Kalex machinery at Dynavolt Intact GP. 0.009 in arrears, Isaac Viñales (SAG Team) was again showing great pace on the opening day in Jerez after similarly impressing in Valencia, ahead of Moto2™ rookie Hector Barbera (Pons HP 40), who rounded out the top ten. Barbera is a former runner up in the intermediate class, but when it was the 250 World Championship. Now moving to Moto2™ from the premier class, the Spaniard was ill for the first days at the Valencia test but nevertheless has shown consistent and progressing pace. 2016 Moto3™ World Champion Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was P11 for KTM, ahead of the fastest of the Moto3™ graduates this season: Romano Fenati (Marinelli Snipers Team). And it was an identical gap back to the returning Danny Kent (Beta Tools Speed Up Racing) in P13, with 0.089 between them. Fourteenth was another KTM with Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors), former Moto2™ title contender, getting to grips with his new bike, ahead of reigning Moto3™ Champion Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS). Eric Granado (Forward Racing Team) was the fastest Suter and just over 1.3 off the top, with American rookie Joe Roberts keeping the stars and stripes – and new NTS chassis – 0.019 off the Brazilian’s best. The first Tech 3 machine, Remy Gardner, slotted in just behind the rider from the US with another incredibly small gap of less than half a tenth in it, with South African Steven Odendaal only 0.023 further off on the second NTS RW Racing GP machine. Bo Bendsneyder was in 24th; after his strong performance at Valencia, he seemed a little off pace. The Dutchman would have liked to be further up the time sheets but had a lot of testing to do, switching several times from his first to his second bike. Then in the afternoon he had some small technical issues on his second bike in the last session. Losing some tracktime because of it, he didn’t use the softer option tyres today. Most riders did in the last session. Despite running on the harder option tyres he managed to set his fastest lap of 1.43,689 in the last laps of the 3rd outing. That leaves him with some extra soft tyres for the next two days,….

jerez1

Combined results day 1:

Pos Rider Team Fastest lap
1 Francesco BAGNAIA SKY Racing Team VR46 1:42.330
2 Alex MARQUEZ EG 0.0 Marc VDS 1:42.496
3 Mattia PASINI Italtrans Racing Team 1:42.560
4 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Ajo 1:42.594
5 Lorenzo BALDASSARI Pons HP40 1:42.687
6 Luca MARINI SKY Racing Team VR46 1:42.732
7 Simone CORSI Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 1:42.780
8 Xavi VIERGE Dynavolt Intact GP 1:42.851
9 Isaac VINALES Sag Team 1:42.860
10 Hector BARBERA Pons HP40 1:42.939
11 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Ajo 1:42.983
12 Romano FENATI Marinelli Snipers Team 1:43.072
13 Danny KENT Beta Tools Speed Up Racing 1:43.161
14 Sam LOWES Swiss Innovative Investors 1:43.193
15 Joan MIR EG 0.0 Marc VDS 1:43.317
16 Fabio QUARTARARO Beta Tools Speed Up Racing 1:43.328
17 Jorge NAVARRO Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 1:43.411
18 Marcel SCHROTTER Dynavolt Intact GP 1:43.454
19 Tetsuta NAGASHIMA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia 1:43.598
20 Eric GRANADO Forward Racing Team 1:43.702
21 Joe ROBERTS NTS RW Racing GP 1:43.721
22 Remy GARDNER Tech 3 Racing 1:43.767
23 Steven ODENDAAL NTS RW Racing GP 1:43.790
24 Bo BENDSNEYDER Tech 3 Racing 1:43.869
25 Iker LECUONA Swiss Innovative Investors 1:43.999
26 Khairul IDHAM PAWI IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia 1:44.114
27 Andrea LOCATELLI Italtrans Racing Team 1:44.144
28 Dominique AEGERTER Kiefer Racing 1:44.570
29 Federico FULIGNI Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 1:44.622
30 Jules DANILO NASHI ARGAN SAG Team 1:44.724
31 Stefano MANZI Forward Racing Team 1:44.946

Source: motogp.com, racesport.nl

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