Espargaró quickest of the 125 riders at the Ricardo Tormo

Monday, 1 March 2010

On the opening day of the first official test of the year in Valencia the Bainet Derbi rider went faster than the 2009 pole position time of Julián Simón, and was just under a full second ahead of his main rivals.

Pol Espargaró confirmed his title aspirations in the 125cc class on Monday with the fastest time of the eighth-litre class riders, set in the second session of the opening day of the official test at Valencia.

The Spaniard closed the day with a best lap of 1’40.904, some 1.2 seconds better than his morning time which was set in the mixed session with the Moto2 riders. Espargaró was also over half a second quicker than the pole position time which 125cc World Champion Julián Simón qualified with last season.

The first day was a good one for the Spanish riders, with Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) and Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) in second and third positions respectively on the timesheet. The difference between Espargaró and Márquez was almost a full second, underlining the Bainet Derbi rider’s strength.

Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) was fourth-quickest with a time of 1’42.032, a distance of 1.128s off Espargaró, and following the 2009 World Championship runner-up on the timesheet were Sandro Cortese, Efrén Vázquez, Esteve Rabat, Johann Zarco and Marcel Schrötter, with British Danny Webb completing the top ten with his first ride of the Aprilia RSA of the Andalucia Cajasol team.