The final day of Moto2 testing at Valencia, before the teams head off to Estoril for another pre-season test saw the 125cc World Champion Marc Marquez in his fourth test with the Suter chassis bike head the top of the timesheets with another 18-year old, Scott Redding, taking the same identical time of 1.
35.
6, which was already faster than last year’s Valencia race lap times, but the teams are not using official Honda 600cc engines.
The third spot went to last year’s Moto2 runner-up Julian Simon who was three tenths of a second slower, improving Friday’s best time by one tenth, while Márquez and Redding shaved off one second from their Friday times.
Yuki Takahashi was fourth with his Moriwaki posting the same times as Thomas Lüthi and Stefan Bradl on the Suter and Kalex.
Andrea Iannone, Aleix Espargaro, Alex de Angelis with Michele Pirro completed the top 10.
After the jump lap times and a couple of comments from some of the Moto2 riders.
Marc Márquez:“It is a very positive outcome for these three days of test.
We set a time one second and a half faster than the first day and we have been constantly progressing, so we leave Valencia very satisfied.
Today we tested some more things on the set-up, but we still have a lot to try, so we must keep focused and work step by step.
The time we set was really good, but that was not our main objective, as the most important thing is to keep getting familiar with the team and test different configurations for the bike.
We were very consistent and I hope that we are able to do the same in the next tests in Portugal.
The adaptation to the class is going well, but we still have a lot to do before the first race of the season”.
Scott Redding:“Today I set my fastest ever lap around Valencia, so it’s definitely been a successful test for us.
The new bike has been set-up to suit me more, with a different footrest position and a longer seat unit, but these changes have also affected the balance of the bike.
At the start the new bike was riding too much on the rear, but working with my Crew Chief Pete Benson and our Öhlins suspension technician, Mike Norton, we have been able to improve things a lot in this area over the past three days.
Now we need to continue this progression at the next test in Estoril, which is just four days away.
”Mika Kallio:“This has been a very positive test and I’m quite happy with how things have gone.
If I’d gone another half-a-second faster then I’d be leaving here completely happy.
I didn’t really know what to expect from my shoulder after the operation, but it’s been more or less ok.
We tried a lot of things on the bike during the test and, lap-by-lap, we saw improvements, but I still need more time on the bike to learn how to get the best from it.
The more kilometres I do on the bike the more comfortable I feel, so I’m looking forward to continuing the process at Estoril next week.
”Mike di Meglio:“This has been a really positive test and the bike has improved so much during these three days that I am very, very happy.
I leave the circuit with a good lap time and we have started to understand the bike and what are my needs and what I like for the future.
This makes me very happy as I already have a good feeling with the bike and the Tech 3 Racing Team after this first test.
We were working on the balance of the bike and I feel we are definitely making big progress in the direction I want.
We have six more days of testing now, starting next week in Estoril and I am sure we can find more improvements.
We only used a standard engine in Valencia and we don’t know what engine our rivals had.
But I am already better than my time at the last test in Valencia and I can feel that the bike has very good potential.
”Andrea Iannone:“I’m quite satisfied with how these three test days have gone.
These sessions were very useful, we worked a lot and continuously: we found some positive things on the bike and that gives us confidence.
We are carrying on a definite schedule and we are at a good point.
I’d like to thank once again the team, Suter for their helpfulness, will, patience and passion.
A big thanks goes also to my Ohlins technician and to all the people that assisted us throughout these days.
I’m happy with the level we achieved with the bike and its performance.
Now we’ll see how things go at Estoril, but I hope everything will work out at its best.
”Bradley Smith:“This test was very important and I learned a lot.
It was my first time with the 2011 bike and we worked a lot on the geometry to find a good balance.
It was hard work, but a great learning process as we tried many different solutions that helped me understand what happens to the bike when we make changes and how big the differences can be.
It is scary that we only have six more days of testing until the season starts, but as we found a good direction with the bike in Valencia, I am confident.
I improved my time by 1.
4 seconds compared to November, so it shows that we did a very good job.
I am happy with my team and we work together very well and I have to thank them for their efforts.
Now we go straight to Estoril, but it looks like the weather forecast is not so positive.
I hope we will have as much dry track time as possible to help us build on the progress we made in Valencia.
”Moto2 Valencia Test Day 3 Results:01- Marc Marquez – Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol – Suter MMXI – 1’35.
602- Scott Redding – Marc VDS Racing Team – Suter MMXI – 1’35.
603- Julian Simon – Mapfre Aspar Team – Suter MMXI – 1’35.
904- Yuki Takahashi – Gresini Racing Moto2 – Moriwaki MD600 – 1’36.
005- Thomas Luthi – Interwetten Paddock M2 Racing – Suter MMXI – 1’36.
006- Stefan Bradl – Viessmann Kiefer Racing – KALEX Moto2 – 1’36.
007- Andrea Iannone – Speed Master Team – Suter MMXI – 1’36.
108- Aleix Espargaro – Tenerife 40 Pons – KALEX Moto2 – 1’36.
109- Alex De Angelis – JiR Moto2 – MotoBI – 1’36.
310- Michele Pirro – Gresini Racing Moto2 – Moriwaki MD600 – 1’36.
411- Claudio Corti – Italtrans Racing Team – Suter MMXI – 1’36.
412- Simone Corsi – Ioda Racing Project – FTR Moto M211 – 1’36.
613- Axel Pons – Tenerife 40 Pons – KALEX Moto2 – 1’36.
614- Mike di Meglio – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 611 – 1’36.
615- Jules Cluzel – Forward Racing – Suter MMXI – 1’36.
816- Raffaele De Rosa – G22 Racing Team – Moriwaki MD600 – 1’36.
917- Mika Kallio – Marc VDS Racing Team – Suter MMXI – 1’37.
018- Alex Baldolini – Forward Racing – Suter MMXI – 1’37.
019- Mattia Pasini – Ioda Racing Project – FTR Moto M211 – 1’37.
020- Randy Krummenacher – Grand Prix Team Switzerland – KALEX Moto2 – 1’37.
221- Javier Fores – Mapfre Aspar Team – Suter MMXI – 1’37.
222- Bradley Smith – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 611 – 1’37.
323- Kev Coghlan – Motorsport 69 – FTR Moto M211 – 1’37.
524- Tito Rabat – Blusens STX – FTR Moto M211 – 1’37.
725- Max Neukirchner – MZ Racing Team – MZ RE Honda – 1’37.
826- Robertino Pietri – Italtrans Racing Team – Suter MMXI – 1’37.
827- Santiago Hernandez – SAG Team – FTR Moto M211 – 1’37.
928- Anthony West – MZ Racing Team – MZ RE Honda – 1’38.
129- Kenny Noyes – Avintia STX – FTR Moto M211 – 1’38.
530- Dominque Aegerter – Technomag CIP – Suter MMXI – 1’38.
6