Simón tops second Moto2 session, Elías fastest of day

Toni Elías of the Gresini Racing team was at the top of the timesheet as the opening day of the first official Moto2/125cc test ended at Valencia on Monday. The Spaniard’s time of 1’37.530 – set in the mixed morning session when sharing the track with the 125cc riders – was the best of the Moto2 riders present, and he was just 0.022s slower than his own time in the afternoon.

Julián Simón of the Mapfre Aspar team impressed in the afternoon session, as he went within 0.018s of Elías’ time. Simón’s best lap of the day placed him in front of Kenny Noyes (Jack&Jones by A. Banderas) and Claudio Corti (Forward Racing) on the timesheet.

“We must continue to improve, as I’m still not completely happy with the rear end of the bike which slides a lot when accelerating, and the tyres are still not entirely to my liking,” explained Simón, who had his first experience with the official Honda engine along with the rest of the Moto2 riders.

“The engine has left me happy, because it’s more or less the same power as the one we had (provisionally). That was the remaining question, we didn’t know if it would flow more or less but it’s already clear the engine makes the bike go well and is fun,” concluded Simón.

Vladimir Ivanov (Gresini Racing) maintained his hold on fifth place but the Russian suffered a fall late in the day which resulted in a heavy blow to his hand, leaving questions over his participation on Tuesday. Japanese rider Yuki Takahashi (Tech3 Racing) made an improvement of 0.182s on his session from the morning, and Colombian rider Yonny Hérnandez of the Blusens-STX team went almost nine-tenths of a second quicker than his own time in the second session, as the two riders finished sixth and seventh fastest respectively.

Anthony West moved up a place on the timesheet from his morning effort. The MZ Racing rider placed behind Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Racing) who took eighth fastest thanks to his time of 1’38.644 set in the morning. Former MotoGP rider Niccolò Canepa (Scot Racing) completed the top ten with his time of 1’38.671, proving he had recovered from the fall he had during the private test at Misano last Wednesday.