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 |  ESTEVE RABAT |
KALEX | MARC VDS RACING TEAM | 1:35.155 | DAY 2 |
| 2 | MAVERICK VINALES |
KALEX | PONS HP 40 | 1:35.302 | DAY 3 |
| 3 |  TAKAAKI NAKAGAMI |
KALEX | IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA | 1:35.337 | DAY 3 |
| 4 |  THOMAS LUTHI |
SUTER | INTERWETTEN PADDOCK MOTO2 | 1:35.422 | DAY 3 |
| 5 |  SANDRO CORTESE |
KALEX | DYNAVOLT INTACT GP | 1:35.564 | DAY 3 |
| 6 | JORDI TORRES |
SUTER | MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM MOTO2 | 1:35.643 | DAY 3 |
| 7 |  MIKA KALLIO |
KALEX | MARC VDS RACING TEAM | 1:35.690 | DAY 2 |
| 8 | NICOLAS TEROL |
SUTER | MAPFRE ASPAR TEAM MOTO2 | 1:35.715 | DAY 2 |
| 9 | JULIAN SIMON |
KALEX | ITALTRANS RACING TEAM | 1:35.725 | DAY 3 |
| 10 | LUIS SALOM |
KALEX | PONS HP 40 | 1:35.844 | DAY 3 |
| 11 |  ALEX DE ANGELIS |
SUTER | TASCA RACING MOTO2 | 1:36.033 | DAY 2 |
| 12 |  SAM LOWES |
SPEED UP | SPEED UP | 1:36.082 | DAY 3 |
| 13 |  JOHANN ZARCO |
CATERHAM SUTER | CATERHAM MOTO RACING | 1:36.222 | DAY 2 |
| 14 | AXEL PONS |
KALEX | ARGINANO & GINES RACING | 1:36.335 | DAY 3 |
| 15 | DOMINIQUE AEGERTER |
SUTER | TECHNOMAG CARXPERT | 1:36.384 | DAY 3 |
| 16 | JONAS FOLGER |
KALEX | ARGINANO & GINES RACING | 1:36.439 | DAY 2 |
| 17 |  ANTHONY WEST |
SPEED UP | QMMF RACING TEAM | 1:36.534 | DAY 2 |
| 18 |  JOSH HERRIN |
CATERHAM SUTER | CATERHAM MOTO RACING | 1:36.566 | DAY 3 |
| 19 | MARCEL SCHROTTER |
TECH 3 | TECH 3 RACING | 1:36.684 | DAY 3 |
| 20 |  FRANCO MORBIDELLI |
KALEX | ITALTRANS RACING TEAM | 1:36.785 | DAY 3 |
| 21 | LOUIS ROSSI |
KALEX | SAG TEAM | 1:36.852 | DAY 3 |
| 22 |  HAFIZH SYAHRIN |
KALEX | PETRONAS RACELINE MALAYSIA | 1:36.886 | DAY 3 |
| 23 | L. BALDASSARRI |
SUTER | FEDERAL OIL GRESINI MOTO2 | 1:36.926 | DAY 3 |
| 24 | AZLAN SHAH |
KALEX | IDEMITSU HONDA TEAM ASIA | 1:36.955 | DAY 2 |
| 25 | ALEX MARINELARENA |
TECH 3 | TECH 3 RACING | 1:37.015 | DAY 3 |
| 26 | ROMAN RAMOS |
SPEED UP | QMMF RACING TEAM | 1:37.067 | DAY 3 |
| 27 | GINO REA |
SUTER | AGT-REA RACING | 1:37.141 | DAY 2 |
| 28 | R. KRUMMENACHER |
SUTER | IODARACING PROJECT | 1:37.151 | DAY 2 |
| 29 |  THITIPONG WAROKORN |
KALEX | A.P. HONDA SAG TEAM | 1:37.867 | DAY 3 |
| 30 | ROBIN MULHAUSER |
SUTER | TECHNOMAG CARXPERT | 1:37.878 | DAY 3 |
| 31 | TETSUTA NAGASHIMA |
MOTOBI | TELURU TEAM JIR WEBIKE | 1:38.915 | DAY 3 |
