After another classic Moto3™ encounter on Sunday, it was back to work on Monday for the lightweight runners for a day of testing. One of the biggest focuses was new tyres brought by Dunlop, with two new front compounds and three new rear tyres that are bigger in diameter. Present were Red Bull KTM Ajo, Sky Racing Team VR46, the British Talent Team, AGR Team, Peugeot MC Saxoprint, RBA BOE Racing, Platinum Bay Real Estate and Südmetall Schedl GP Racing.
John McPhee (British Talent Team) was one concentrating on tyres, as was Jakub Kornfeil (Peugeot MC Saxoprint) – with teammate Patrik Pulkkinnen instead using the track time to concentrate on riding.
RBA BOE Racing’s Juanfran Guevara and Gabriel Rodrigo also worked on riding, in a slightly different way. Guevara concentrated on working with the tyres, but also sparring with his teammate to give Rodrigo more experience in defensive riding – without losing time.
Sky Racing Team VR46 also had a specific mission for Nicolo Bulega, as the Italian worked on his starts, and the team also worked with chassis upgrades for 2018. Another KTM runner, Maria Herrera (AGR Team), used her time to do more radical setup changes – with Red Bull KTM Ajo also more concentrating on setup, as well as tyres.
Marcos Ramirez (Platinum Bay Real Estate), with two bikes to work with due to his teammate’s injury, did back to back comparisons on two different engine maps. Philipp Oettl (Südmetall Schedl GP Racing), meanwhile, worked on finding the best geometry and suspension settings with the new swingarm KTM brought before Brno – looking to get more rear grip in the latter stages of the race.
Now it’s time to get back on the road and head for Silverstone for Round 12!