Corti ends final pre-season Test at Jerez fastest

Italtrans Racing rider Claudio Corti posted the fastest time of the final Moto2™ pre-season Test at Jerez on Wednesday, topping the timesheet with a time of 1’41.983 on the third and final day. The Italian set his time in the Moto2-only afternoon session, and was just 0.004s ahead of Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock GP), who had been quickest on days one and two.

The pair were the only riders under 1’42”, with Pol Espargaró (Pons 40 HP Tuenti) third in a time of 1’42.149. Mika Kallio’s strong form continued as the Finn of the Marc VDS Racing Team placed fourth on the timesheet, having been another consistently fast rider throughout all three days.

Marc Márquez (CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) has shown little sign of any lingering problems from the vision issue which had laid him low for much of the pre-season. Last year’s Championship runner-up was fifth at just 0.447s off the top time.

Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) made solid progress to end the day sixth fastest, with 2010 Champion Toni Elías (Mapfre Aspar), Julián Simón (Avintia Racing), Alex de Angelis (NGM Mobile Forward Racing) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) completing the top 10, all within eight-tenths of a second of Corti.

After morning falls for Randy Krummenacher (GP Team Switzerland), Takaaki Nakagami (Italtrans Racing) and Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda Gresini Moto2), Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing) and Gino Rea (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) both went down in the afternoon session, the former’s fall briefly producing a red flag. Smith ended the day 14th and Rea 25th fastest.

The teams will now take their findings from the Test and make their final preparations for the season-opening round in Qatar, which gets underway in just over two weeks and takes place from April 5-8.