Johann Zarco remains the man to beat in Moto2 pre-season testing after topping the timesheets this week at Jerez. The Frenchman edged out Sam Lowes midway through the final day to maintain the Kalex supremacy but Lowes’ performance on the Speed Up machine continued to catch the eye, the Briton setting the pace in four of the nine sessions across the three-day test.
After three crashes last week at Valencia, reigning champion Esteve Rabat picked up where he left off with another tumble on Tuesday. Despite that, the Spaniard was quickest in the first session with a 1:43.399 but he wouldn’t be seen at the top of the timesheets until the very last session of the week, leaving Zarco and Lowes to dispute top spot.
Lowes produced a totally dominant display on day two to top all three sessions, beating the 2014 pole position time while he was at it, but Zarco made full use of the warmer conditions on day three to finish fastest overall on a 1:42.121, four hundredths quicker than the Speed Up. Rabat’s late flyer in the final session saw him climb above Axel Pons into third while Luis Salom regained the edge over his rookie teammate Alex Rins with a 1:42.484 good enough for fifth.
Lowes aside, the top ten was monopolised by Kalex riders with Sandro Cortese sixth ahead of Jonas Folger and the improving Lorenzo Baldassarri with Rins punted back to ninth after cracking the top three on day one.
2015 Moto2 Testing: Valencia – February 17-19
| 1 | Johann Zarco | Kalex | Ajo Motorsport | 1:42.121 |
| 2 | Sam Lowes | Speed Up | Speed Up Racing | 1:42.165 |
| 3 | Esteve Rabat | Kalex | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:42.392 |
| 4 | Axel Pons | Kalex | AGR Team | 1:42.410 |
| 5 | Luis Salom | Kalex | Paginas Amarillas HP 40 | 1:42.484 |
| 6 | Sandro Cortese | Kalex | Dynavolt Intact GP | 1:42.566 |
| 7 | Jonas Folger | Kalex | AGR Team | 1:42.625 |
| 8 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | Kalex | Forward Racing | 1:42.880 |
| 9 | Alex Rins | Kalex | Paginas Amarillas HP 40 | 1:42.927 |
| 10 | Thomas Luthi | Kalex | Derendinger Racing Interwetten | 1:42.980 |
| 11 | Xavier Simeon | Kalex | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 1:43.043 |
| 12 | Takaaki Nakagami | Kalex | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 1:43.172 |
| 13 | Marcel Schrotter | Tech 3 | Tech 3 | 1:43.176 |
| 14 | Mika Kallio | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 1:43.222 |
| 15 | Franco Morbidelli | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 1:43.251 |
| 16 | Alex Marquez | Kalex | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:43.254 |
| 17 | Simone Corsi | Kalex | Forward Racing | 1:43.287 |
| 18 | Dominique Aegerter | Kalex | Technomag Racing Interwetten | 1:43.349 |
| 19 | Hafizh Syahrin | Kalex | Petronas Raceline Malaysia | 1:43.358 |
| 20 | Louis Rossi | Tech 3 | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | 1:43.738 |
| 21 | Anthony West | Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | 1:43.849 |
| 22 | Julian Simon | Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | 1:43.936 |
| 23 | Ricard Cardus | Tech 3 | Tech 3 | 1:43.979 |
| 24 | Azlan Shah | Kalex | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 1:44.533 |
| 25 | Robin Mulhauser | Kalex | Technomag Racing Interwetten | 1:44.551 |
| 26 | Randy Krummenacher | Kalex | JIR Moto2 | 1:44.635 |
| 27 | Thitipong Warokorn | Kalex | APH PTT The Pizza SAG | 1:44.646 |
| 28 | Florian Alt | Suter | Octo IodaRacing Team | 1:44.692 |
| 29 | Jesko Raffin | Kalex | EMWE SAG Team | 1:46.209 |
