Moto2 progress made at sunny Valencia

In winter sunshine at the Spanish track, a host of teams’ preparations for the new Moto2 category continued as the first of a two-day test in Valencia was completed.

Amongst those participating were the BQR, Italtrans STR, Tech 3, Mapfre Aspar and Pons Kalex teams, as they sought to maximise the chance to gain further insight into the development of their machines.

Raffaele de Rosa for Tech 3 and Sergio Gadea for Pons Kalex both had their first experiences aboard Moto2 bikes, and the Aspar structure followed up on their test at the same track a few weeks previously by again using the BQR prototype. Mike di Meglio and Julián Simón were given more time to acclimatise to the workings of the 600cc 4-stroke machine.

Working tirelessly between the hours of 11am and 4pm, 125cc World Champion Simón consistently lapped at around the 1’38” mark, finally setting a best time of 1’37.91 as he completed 63 turns. Di Meglio overcame issues with the gears and front brake on his machine, which reduced his time on the track, to put in 50 laps, registering a 1’39.3 in his final session of the day.

Di Meglio made a modification to the chassis of his bike towards the end which resulted in a slight improvement, and both he and Simón will continue their test on Thursday.

“Today we have progressed with the set-up of the bike. The truth is that everything is new, but step by step we have been getting better, and assessing the feeling I have with the chassis,” said Simón. “We had doubts over whether there would be some chattering, like the last time we tested here, but I felt comfortable for most of the session. We worked mainly on the front fork to gain confidence when braking, and towards the end we used a softer tyre which we achieved decent times with. It’s the first official test I’ve had and I’m very happy with the feeling of the 4-stroke machine. We can still improve with the cornering, but I’m satisfied with the progress we’re making.”

Team-mate Di Meglio said, “Today was a bit complicated, because we had some problems with gear changes and the brakes. We slowly improved that, but we ran out of time for the day. With the chassis, I felt a little less comfortable than the last time I tried the Moto2 bike here, but I think we can continue the evolution of it tomorrow after what we found late on today. On the last run of today, I went out on the track with a new configuration of the chassis, and I managed to improve my times. They are still far from good though, so we must not rest. I hope the good weather continues tomorrow and we can keep working to better understand the Moto2 bike.”