It was a slow start to the second day of the final pre-season Official Test for Moto3™ as riders were greeted with a wet track in the morning. When the track dried out in the afternoon it was Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) who blitzed his way to the top of the timesheets to end the day quickest.
A damp track ahead of the first session of the day meant just nine riders set lap times, with the majority of the field deciding not to risk the tricky conditions. Martin set his time during the second Moto3™ outing of the day, becoming the only rider to dip under the 1:46 barrier and breaking the outright lap record in the process.
That time from Martin was enough to see him finish the day a tenth clear of second quickest Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing), who looks to have settled in well with his new team. The Italian edged out his former teammate Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) into second place on the times. The 2017 Jerez race winner upped his time from Day 1 but was still outpaced by the fastest pair.
Behind the quickest trio, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) made it four Honda’s in the top five before Marco Bezzecchi (PruestelGP) disrupted the Japanese manufacturer’s dominance to end the day in fifth place on board his KTM machine.
It was another impressive display from 2018 rookie Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) as he narrowly missed out on the top five in sixth place. The SIC58 Squadra Corse duo of Niccolo Antonelli and Tatsuki Suzuki were up next, with the former beating his teammate into seventh by a fraction to claim the bragging rights in the garage.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) made it five Italians in the top 10 as he finished the day ninth, ahead of Belgian Livio Loi riding for the newly formed Reale Avintia Academy team.
Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) continues to recovery from his injury picked up in the final round of 2017 and end the day in 18th, two places ahead of his teammate and reigning Moto3™ Junior World Champion Dennis Foggia.
The lightweight class return to Jerez tomorrow for one final day of testing before the season kicks-off in Qatar.