The intermediate and lightweight classes continued their preparations for the season ahead as a host of teams headed to Valencia for three days of private testing.
All eyes where on the 2017 Moto2™ Championship winning team of Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS, as Álex Márquez and reigning Moto3™ Champion Joan Mir put the new Kalex chassis through it’s paces on the opening day. Mir continued his adaption to the 600cc machine while teammate Márquez was straight down to business, setting consistent lap times from the off.
Solid first day for @Joanmir36 at @CircuitValencia but then the rain arrived and the test was abandoned. Roll on Jerez! pic.twitter.com/4fKwBwzaQo
— Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS (@TeamEG00MarcVDS) 27 de febrero de 2018
The Sky Racing Team VR46 squad also had their hands on the new Kalex frame with Luca Marini and Francesco Bagnaia trying a host of new parts from the German chassis manufacturer. Despite a fall for the latter, the team were happy with the feedback from both riders given the limited track time.
After a troubled season in MotoGP™, Sam Lowes continued his return to the intermediate class as the Brit and his Innovative Investors KTM team begin to get to grips with a new bike for 2018. Alongside teammate Iker Lecuona, the pair focussed on the geometry of the KTM and solving chatter issues during the test.
Stefano Manzi and Eric Granado were also in action and the The Forward Racing Team duo chose to work on their position on the bike and suspension setup on their Kalex machines.
#ValenciaTest -1 Stefano Manzi #sm62#forwardracing #forward #moto2 #motogp pic.twitter.com/xClzQcu71q
— Forward Racing (@ForwardRacingGP) 25 febbraio 2018
In Moto3™, the Sky Racing Team VR46 squad saw Moto3 Junior World Champion Denis Foggia spend his time targeting chassis setup on his 2018 spec KTM. Meanwhile Nicolò Bulega continued his recovery process following his crash at the final round of 2017, but found it difficult to set long runs of the Valencia circuit.
Rookie Jaume Masia was also out on track with his Bester Capital Dubai teammate Marcos Ramirez, and fellow newbies for the 2018 season Kazuki Masaki (RBA BOE Skull Rider) and Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0).
¡Contento con las buenas sensaciones en la moto y el buen trabajo hecho durante el test! // Happy with the good feelings on the bike and the good job done during the test! ???? #Masia5 #Test pic.twitter.com/CirCty72TT
— Jaume Masiá (@jaume_masia) 27 de febrero de 2018
Although three-days of track action had initially been planned, the weather had other ideas and rain interrupted the second day before causing the final day to be called-off.
For both categories, the next stop will be Jerez, where rider and teams will have one last chance to test before the season kicks-off in Qatar.