Esteve Rabat continues to enhance his status as Moto2 championship favourite after topping the times on day one of the second pre-season test. The Spaniard, who led the field at Valencia last week, finished a quarter of a second clear of Thomas Luthi at Jerez today as the two proved a class apart from everyone else.
The day got off to a slow start with overnight rain leaving grip levels low but even in the trickier conditions of this morning, Rabat and Luthi dominated. By the end of proceedings though, Rabat had gone quicker than his own pole position from a year ago with both he and Luthi in the 1:42s bracket.
Mika Kallio was third fastest on the second Marc VDS Kalex with class rookies Sam Lowes and Maverick Vinales keeping up their impressive winter form to take fourth and fifth respectively. Takaaki Nakagami was sixth fastest ahead of Sandro Cortese and Julian Simon with Simone Corsi ninth as Forward Racing kicked off their 2014 programme, running a unique ‘Forward KLX’ chassis based on last year’s Kalex.
The 33 rider field taking part in this week’s test does not include Gino Rea with the Briton choosing to rest his left foot after breaking it at Valencia last week.
| MOTO2 OFFICIAL TEST – JEREZ – TUESDAY 18TH FEBRUARY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| POS | RIDER | BIKE | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 |  ESTEVE RABAT |
KALEX | MARC VDS RACING TEAM | 1:42.747 |
| 2 |  THOMAS LUTHI |
SUTER | INTERWETTEN PADDOCK MOTO2 | 1:42.989 |
| 3 |  MIKA KALLIO |
KALEX | MARC VDS RACING TEAM | 1:43.320 |
| 4 |  SAM LOWES |
SPEED UP | SPEED UP | 1:43.449 |
| 5 | MAVERICK VINALES |
KALEX | PONS HP 40 | 1:43.544 |
| 6 |  TAKAAKI NAKAGAMI |
KALEX | IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA | 1:43.570 |
| 7 |  SANDRO CORTESE |
KALEX | DYNAVOLT INTACT GP | 1:43.634 |
| 8 | JULIAN SIMON |
KALEX | ITALTRANS RACING TEAM | 1:43.695 |
| 9 |  SIMONE CORSI |
FORWARD KLX | NGM FORWARD RACING | 1:43.748 |
| 10 | LUIS SALOM |
KALEX | PONS HP 40 | 1:43.793 |
| 11 |  ALEX DE ANGELIS |
SUTER | TASCA RACING MOTO2 | 1:43.841 |
| 12 |  ANTHONY WEST |
SPEED UP | QMMF RACING TEAM | 1:44.178 |
| 13 |  XAVIER SIMEON |
SUTER | FEDERAL OIL GRESINI MOTO2 | 1:44.226 |
| 14 |  JOHANN ZARCO |
CATERHAM SUTER | CATERHAM MOTO RACING | 1:44.283 |
| 15 | DOMINIQUE AEGERTER |
SUTER | TECHNOMAG CARXPERT | 1:44.338 |
| 16 | MATTIA PASINI |
FORWARD KLX | NGM FORWARD RACING | 1:43.348 |
| 17 | NICOLAS TEROL |
SUTER | MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM MOTO2 | 1:44.394 |
| 18 | AXEL PONS |
KALEX | ARGINANO & GINES RACING | 1:44.412 |
| 19 | ALEX MARINELARENA |
TECH 3 | TECH 3 RACING | 1:44.499 |
| 20 | LOUIS ROSSI |
KALEX | SAG TEAM | 1:44.518 |
| 21 |  HAFIZH SYAHRIN |
KALEX | PETRONAS RACELINE MALAYSIA | 1:44.553 |
| 22 | RANDY KRUMMENACHER |
SUTER | IODARACING PROJECT | 1:44.596 |
| 23 | JONAS FOLGER |
KALEX | ARGINANO & GINES RACING | 1:44.601 |
| 24 | FRANCO MORBIDELLI |
KALEX | ITALTRANS RACING TEAM | 1:44.617 |
| 25 | LORENZO BALDASSARRI |
SUTER | FEDERAL OIL GRESINI MOTO2 | 1:44.912 |
| 26 |  JOSH HERRIN |
CATERHAM SUTER | CATERHAM MOTO RACING | 1:44.951 |
| 27 | MARCEL SCHROTTER |
TECH 3 | TECH 3 RACING | 1:45.112 |
| 28 | ROMAN RAMOS |
SPEED UP | QMMF RACING TEAM | 1:45.209 |
| 29 | AZLAN SHAH |
KALEX | IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA | 1:45.298 |
| 30 | JORDI TORRES |
SUTER | MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM MOTO2 | 1:45.743 |
| 31 |  THITIPONG WAROKORN |
KALEX | APH PTT THE PIZZA SAG | 1:46.027 |
| 32 | TETSUTA NAGASHIMA |
MOTOBI | TELURU TEAM JIR WEBIKE | 1:46.378 |
| 33 | ROBIN MULHAUSER |
SUTER | TECHNOMAG CARXPERT | 1:46.770 |
