Toni Elias sprung a surprise on day one of the final pre-season Moto2 test at Jerez by topping the timesheets on a day dominated by Kalex. The Bavarian manufacturer locked out the top six places on Monday with Elias leading Pons Tuenti teammates Esteve Rabat and Pol Espargaro.
Crucially, the final test of the winter marked the first occasion that the entire Moto2 field were running with Honda’s 2013-spec 600cc engine. For the first day and a half, all riders are limited to 56 laps in total with the restrictions lifted on Tuesday afternoon, by which time new units will be installed to allow the previous powerplants to be sent to Qatar for the season opener for race preparation.
Elias, champion in Moto2’s inaugural season three years ago, waited until his sixteenth and final lap of the day to set a 1:43.365, half a tenth quicker than Rabat with Espargaro 0.227s further back in third. The Italtrans duo of Takaaki Nakagami and Julian Simon were next up, continuing their impressive form from the earlier tests, while Mika Kallio took sixth ahead of Alex De Angelis on Forward Racing’s Speed Up, the first non-Kalex runner.
Nicolas Terol, one of the stars of testing so far, was eighth quickest with Johann Zarco and Xavier Simeon edging Scott Redding out of the top ten although the gap between the Briton and the ultimate pace was just seven tenths of a second.
British rookies Danny Kent and Kyle Smith showed encouraging signs of progress by finishing 19th and 24th respectively although Kent’s Tech 3 teammate Louis Rossi set himself back with a heavy crash on his Mistral 610. Meanwhile, Sergio Gadea spent his first day on the Interwetten Suter which he’ll ride in place of the injured Thomas Luthi in Qatar. The former 125cc race winner made a steady start, closing day one in 29th position.
| Moto2 Jerez Test: Combined Classification – Monday 18th March | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Best Time |
| 1 | 24. Toni Elias |  |
Blusens Avintia | 1:43.365 |
| 2 | 80. Esteve Rabat | |
Tuenti HP 40 | 1:43.424 |
| 3 | 40. Pol Espargaro | |
Tuenti HP 40 | 1:43.651 |
| 4 | 30. Takaaki Nakagami |  |
Italtrans Racing Team | 1:43.664 |
| 5 | 60. Julian Simon | |
Italtrans Racing Team | 1:43.747 |
| 6 | 36. Mika Kallio |  |
Marc VDS Racing Team | 1:43.774 |
| 7 | 15. Alex De Angelis |  |
NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:43.925 |
| 8 | 18. Nicolas Terol | |
Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | 1:43.931 |
| 9 | 5. Johann Zarco |  |
Came IodaRacing Project | 1:43.996 |
| 10 | 19. Xavier Simeon |  |
Maptaq SAG Zelos Team | 1:44.029 |
| 11 | 45. Scott Redding |  |
Marc VDS Racing Team | 1:44.062 |
| 12 | 95. Anthony West |  |
QMMF Racing Team | 1:44.090 |
| 13 | 49. Axel Pons | |
Tuenti HP 40 | 1:44.273 |
| 14 | 77. Dominique Aegerter |  |
Technomag carXpert | 1:44.364 |
| 15 | 3. Simone Corsi |  |
NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:44.455 |
| 16 | 14. Ratthapark Wilairot |  |
Thai Honda Gresini Moto2 | 1:44.461 |
| 17 | 4. Randy Krummenacher | |
Technomag carXpert | 1:44.466 |
| 18 | 88. Ricard Cardus | |
NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:44.572 |
| 19 | 52. Danny Kent | |
Tech 3 Racing | 1:44.894 |
| 20 | 11. Sandro Cortese |  |
Dynavolt Intact GP | 1:44.933 |
| 21 | 54. Mattia Pasini | |
NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:45.101 |
| 22 | 72. Yuki Takahashi | |
Honda Racing Asia Tady | 1:45.101 |
| 23 | 81. Jordi Torres | |
Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | 1:45.240 |
| 24 | 9. Kyle Smith | |
Blusens Avintia | 1:45.314 |
| 25 | 44. Steven Odendaal |  |
Arguiñano & Gines Racing | 1:45.656 |
| 26 | 23. Marcel Schrotter | |
Desguaces La Torre SAG | 1:45.660 |
| 27 | 96. Louis Rossi | |
Tech 3 Racing | 1:45.808 |
| 28 | 63. Mike Di Meglio | |
JIR Moto2 | 1:45.931 |
| 29 | 33. Sergio Gadea | |
Interwetten Paddock | 1:46.858 |
| 30 | 7. Doni Tata Pradita |  |
Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 1:47.266 |
| 31 | 17. Alberto Moncayo | |
Arguiñano & Gines Racing | 1:47.360 |
| 32 | 97. Rafid Topan Sucipto | |
QMMF Racing Team | 1:47.682 |
