Maverick Vinales sent out a major statement by clocking the fastest time on day three of the Moto2 pre-season test at Valencia. The Spanish teenager clinched the Moto3 title here in November and hasn’t wasted any time adjusting to a four-stroke motorcycle, edging out Takaaki Nakagami in the final session of the week. Vinales’ flyer wasn’t the quickest of the entire test though, with Esteve Rabat’s lap on day two marginally faster.
Thomas Luthi was third on the day ahead of Rabat and the impressive Sandro Cortese, the German showing the signs of many before him who struggled as a Moto2 rookie before kicking on second time around. Jordi Torres took sixth ahead of Julian Simon and teammate Nicolas Terol who suffered a crash this afternoon while Mika Kallio and Luis Salom rounded out the top ten, the former failing to make significant progress after setting the outright pace on day one.
For the British riders, the test also began much better than it started with Sam Lowes slipping to twelfth overall but Gino Rea had bigger problems with a crash on day two breaking a bone in his left foot. He did brave the pain to take part in today’s sessions but he couldn’t improve on 27th overall.
Testing resumes on Tuesday with the Moto2 class running for three days at Jerez.
MOTO2 OFFICIAL TEST – VALENCIA – COMBINED TIMES | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
POS | RIDER | BIKE | TEAM | TIME | |
1 | ![]() |
KALEX | MARC VDS RACING TEAM | 1:35.155 | DAY 2 |
2 | ![]() |
KALEX | PONS HP 40 | 1:35.302 | DAY 3 |
3 | ![]() |
KALEX | IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA | 1:35.337 | DAY 3 |
4 | ![]() |
SUTER | INTERWETTEN PADDOCK MOTO2 | 1:35.422 | DAY 3 |
5 | ![]() |
KALEX | DYNAVOLT INTACT GP | 1:35.564 | DAY 3 |
6 | ![]() |
SUTER | MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM MOTO2 | 1:35.643 | DAY 3 |
7 | ![]() |
KALEX | MARC VDS RACING TEAM | 1:35.690 | DAY 2 |
8 | ![]() |
SUTER | MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM MOTO2 | 1:35.715 | DAY 2 |
9 | ![]() |
KALEX | ITALTRANS RACING TEAM | 1:35.725 | DAY 3 |
10 | ![]() |
KALEX | PONS HP 40 | 1:35.844 | DAY 3 |
11 | ![]() |
SUTER | TASCA RACING MOTO2 | 1:36.033 | DAY 2 |
12 | ![]() |
SPEED UP | SPEED UP | 1:36.082 | DAY 3 |
13 | ![]() |
CATERHAM SUTER | CATERHAM MOTO RACING | 1:36.222 | DAY 2 |
14 | ![]() |
KALEX | ARGINANO & GINES RACING | 1:36.335 | DAY 3 |
15 | ![]() |
SUTER | TECHNOMAG CARXPERT | 1:36.384 | DAY 3 |
16 | ![]() |
KALEX | ARGINANO & GINES RACING | 1:36.439 | DAY 2 |
17 | ![]() |
SPEED UP | QMMF RACING TEAM | 1:36.534 | DAY 2 |
18 | ![]() |
CATERHAM SUTER | CATERHAM MOTO RACING | 1:36.566 | DAY 3 |
19 | ![]() |
TECH 3 | TECH 3 RACING | 1:36.684 | DAY 3 |
20 | ![]() |
KALEX | ITALTRANS RACING TEAM | 1:36.785 | DAY 3 |
21 | ![]() |
KALEX | SAG TEAM | 1:36.852 | DAY 3 |
22 | ![]() |
KALEX | PETRONAS RACELINE MALAYSIA | 1:36.886 | DAY 3 |
23 | ![]() |
SUTER | FEDERAL OIL GRESINI MOTO2 | 1:36.926 | DAY 3 |
24 | ![]() |
KALEX | IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA | 1:36.955 | DAY 2 |
25 | ![]() |
TECH 3 | TECH 3 RACING | 1:37.015 | DAY 3 |
26 | ![]() |
SPEED UP | QMMF RACING TEAM | 1:37.067 | DAY 3 |
27 | ![]() |
SUTER | AGT-REA RACING | 1:37.141 | DAY 2 |
28 | ![]() |
SUTER | IODARACING PROJECT | 1:37.151 | DAY 2 |
29 | ![]() |
KALEX | A.P. HONDA SAG TEAM | 1:37.867 | DAY 3 |
30 | ![]() |
SUTER | TECHNOMAG CARXPERT | 1:37.878 | DAY 3 |
31 | ![]() |
MOTOBI | TELURU TEAM JIR WEBIKE | 1:38.915 | DAY 3 |