Thomas Luthi dominated Wednesday’s running as the first official Moto2 pre-season test got underway at Jerez. The Swiss rider was quickest in all three sessions over the course of day one with Sam Lowes finishing as the nearest challenger for Federal Oil Gresini, just a tenth of a second behind.
Luthi, riding with a brand new crew chief for 2016, showed impressive consistency across the three sessions, going faster than Stefan Bradl’s pole position record in each of them. By the time the chequered flag fell late in the afternoon, the Interwetten rider had improved to a 1:42.271 but Lowes, now competing on Kalex machinery, found three tenths on his previous best to close the gap.
Takaaki Nakagami, twice a front row starter here, was third fastest ahead of Alex Rins, the man who will start the season to many as championship favourite. Axel Pons was fifth overall after failing to improve in the final session of the day while the same could be said of Johann Zarco, with the reigning champion six tenths off the pace in sixth.
The top ten was made up exclusively of Kalex riders with Marcel Schrotter seventh ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri, one of the revelations of last season’s closing races. The Dynavolt Intact GP teammates were ninth and eleventh with Sandro Cortese and Jonas Folger sandwiching Dominique Aegerter.
Moto2 Official Test – Jerez (Day One Result)
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