Maverick Vinales cemented his status as the 2013 Moto3 championship favourite by setting the pace for the third day in succession at Valencia. The 18 year old continued to lead compatriots Alex Rins and Luis Salom as the trio remained the class of the field at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit.
For Vinales, the test will have vindicated him for his decision to pursue a KTM ride, commenting that the engine was very much to his liking. The Estrella Galicia and Red Bull Ajo squads will also be running the Austrian machinery and Rins and Salom certainly kept Vinales honest, ending the test within four tenths of his benchmark time.
Jonas Folger completed a consistent week on a high with fourth place although he admitted there were still tweaks to be made to the 2013 Kalex-KTM but the biggest improvement on day three came from the Caretta Technology-RTG team. Jack Miller, so often a star in wet conditions, showed his best form yet in the dry to finish fifth while Scotland’s John McPhee backed up his teammate in ninth. The pair were separated by Romano Fenati who blotted his copybook with a crash, Alex Marquez on the second Estrella Galicia KTM, and Efren Vazquez on the Suter-backed Mahindra.
The quickest rookie at the end of the week turned out to be Livio Loi on Marc VDS Racing’s Kalex-KTM although Ana Carrasco continued her impressive start to life as a Grand Prix rider by finishing sixteenth overall.
| Moto3 Valencia Test: Combined Classification – Thursday 14th February | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Best Time |
| 1 | 25. Maverick Vinales |  |
JHK t-shirt Laglisse | 1:39.299 |
| 2 | 42. Alex Rins | |
Estrella Galicia 0’0 | 1:39.585 |
| 3 | 39. Luis Salom | |
Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1:39.669 |
| 4 | 94. Jonas Folger |  |
Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | 1:40.050 |
| 5 | 8. Jack Miller |  |
Caretta Technology-RTG | 1:40.291 |
| 6 | 5. Romano Fenati |  |
San Carlo Team Italia | 1:40.428 |
| 7 | 12. Alex Marquez | |
Estrella Galicia 0’0 | 1:40.468 |
| 8 | 7. Efren Vazquez | |
Mahindra Racing | 1:40.495 |
| 9 | 17. John McPhee |  |
Caretta Technology-RTG | 1:40.510 |
| 10 | 44. Miguel Oliveira |  |
Mahindra Racing | 1:40.526 |
| 11 | 84. Jakub Kornfeil |  |
Redox RW Racing GP | 1:40.543 |
| 12 | 63. Zulfahmi Khairuddin |  |
Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1:40.564 |
| 13 | 41. Brad Binder |  |
Ambrogio Racing | 1:40.728 |
| 14 | 11. Livio Loi |  |
Marc VDS Racing Team | 1:40.750 |
| 15 | 61. Arthur Sissis | |
Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1:40.918 |
| 16 | 22. Ana Carrasco | |
JHK t-shirt Laglisse | 1:40.946 |
| 17 | 4. Francesco Bagnaia | |
San Carlo Team Italia | 1:41.028 |
| 18 | 65. Philipp Oettl | |
Paddock TT Motion Events | 1:41.109 |
| 19 | 58. Juan Francisco Guevara | |
CIP | 1:41.165 |
| = | 99. Danny Webb | |
Ambrogio Racing | 1:41.165 |
| 21 | 77. Lorenzo Baldassarri | |
Team Go & Fun Honda Gresini | 1:41.176 |
| 22 | 32. Isaac Vinales | |
Bimbo-Ongetta-Centro Seta | 1:41.196 |
| 23 | 31. Niklas Ajo |  |
Avant Tecno | 1:41.250 |
| 24 | 3. Matteo Ferrari | |
Ongetta-Centro Seta | 1:41.327 |
| 25 | 9. Toni Finsterbusch | |
Kiefer Racing | 1:41.511 |
| 26 | 53. Jasper Iwema |  |
RW Racing GP | 1:41.515 |
| 27 | 57. Eric Granado |  |
Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | 1:41.526 |
| 28 | 19. Alessandro Tonucci | |
Team La Fonte Tascaracing | 1:41.969 |
| 29 | 29. Hyuga Watanabe |  |
Team La Fonte Tascaracing | 1:42.169 |
| 30 | 89. Alan Techer |  |
CIP | 1:42.334 |
| 31 | 23. Niccolo Antonelli | |
Team Go & Fun Honda Gresini | 1:42.670 |
