Pol Espargaro made full use of improved conditions at Jerez to set the fastest time of the week so far at Jerez on Wednesday. The Spaniard chose not to venture out at all in the torrential rain of Tuesday but showed his dominance in calmer weather, going almost half a second faster than anybody else.
Damp patches remained first thing this morning but Espargaro steadily improved on his fastest time, leaving Toni Elias’ benchmark from Monday in his wake, and eventually closed the morning session 0.016s ahead of the 2010 world champion on the week-long leaderboard. The second session of the day saw Pol go seven tenths quicker to establish a comfortable lead over Takaaki Nakagami despite the Japanese rider topping the final session of the day to continue his excellent pre-season record.
Julian Simon completed the top three on the second Italtrans Kalex while Scott Redding followed up his pacesetting exploits in the wet with a strong fourth in the dry. Nicolas Terol set the pace among the Suter riders in fifth with Esteve Rabat between him and Aspar teammate Jordi Torres in seventh. Xavier Simeon remains one of the surprises of the winter, going eighth fastest for the SAG team, with the top ten completed by Dominique Aegerter and Axel Pons, 1.2s behind his teammate out front.
Danny Kent was unable to match his pace from day one, falling to 23rd as a result, while Kyle Smith did likewise and ended the day in 28th position.
| Moto2 Jerez Test: Combined Classification – Wednesday 20th March | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Best Time |
| 1 | 40. Pol Espargaro |  |
Tuenti HP 40 | 1:42.636 |
| 2 | 30. Takaaki Nakagami |  |
Italtrans Racing Team | 1:43.103 |
| 3 | 60. Julian Simon | |
Italtrans Racing Team | 1:43.188 |
| 4 | 45. Scott Redding |  |
Marc VDS Racing Team | 1:43.372 |
| 5 | 18. Nicolas Terol | |
Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | 1:43.438 |
| 6 | 80. Esteve Rabat | |
Tuenti HP 40 | 1:43.534 |
| 7 | 81. Jordi Torres | |
Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | 1:43.641 |
| 8 | 19. Xavier Simeon |  |
Maptaq SAG Zelos Team | 1:43.720 |
| 9 | 77. Dominique Aegerter |  |
Technomag carXpert | 1:43.800 |
| 10 | 49. Axel Pons | |
Tuenti HP 40 | 1:43.861 |
| 11 | 36. Mika Kallio |  |
Marc VDS Racing Team | 1:43.929 |
| 12 | 95. Anthony West |  |
QMMF Racing Team | 1:44.052 |
| 13 | 4. Randy Krummenacher | |
Technomag carXpert | 1:44.089 |
| 14 | 63. Mike Di Meglio |  |
JIR Moto2 | 1:44.158 |
| 15 | 24. Toni Elias | |
Blusens Avintia | 1:44.174 |
| 16 | 15. Alex De Angelis |  |
NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:44.182 |
| 17 | 3. Simone Corsi |  |
NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:44.202 |
| 18 | 11. Sandro Cortese |  |
Dynavolt Intact GP | 1:44.276 |
| 19 | 5. Johann Zarco | |
Came IodaRacing Project | 1:44.332 |
| 20 | 14. Ratthapark Wilairot |  |
Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2 | 1:44.456 |
| 21 | 72. Yuki Takahashi | |
Idemitsu Honda Team Asia | 1:44.839 |
| 22 | 23. Marcel Schrotter | |
Desguaces La Torre SAG | 1:44.905 |
| 23 | 52. Danny Kent | |
Tech 3 Racing | 1:44.937 |
| 24 | 96. Louis Rossi | |
Tech 3 Racing | 1:45.181 |
| 25 | 54. Mattia Pasini | |
NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:45.214 |
| 26 | 88. Ricard Cardus | |
NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:45.241 |
| 27 | 44. Steven Odendaal |  |
Arguiñano & Gines Racing | 1:45.354 |
| 28 | 9. Kyle Smith | |
Blusens Avintia | 1:45.590 |
| 29 | 33. Sergio Gadea | |
Interwetten Paddock | 1:46.041 |
| 30 | 97. Rafid Topan Sucipto |  |
QMMF Racing Team | 1:46.283 |
| 31 | 17. Alberto Moncayo | |
Arguiñano & Gines Racing | 1:46.617 |
| 32 | 7. Doni Tata Pradita | |
Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 1:46.649 |
