Alex Marquez led team-mate Franco Morbidelli as Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS dominated the official pre-season test at Jerez. The team endured a winless 2016 after a series of successful campaigns in the intermediate class but Marquez was the only rider all week to break the 1m42 barrier, leading Morbidelli by a tenth of a second.
Much of the pre-season intrigue surrounds the Red Bull Ajo squad who are moving up to Moto2 for the first time with KTM. The team have re-signed Miguel Oliveira and the Portuguese rider made a blistering start, setting the pace on day one while Moto3 champion Brad Binder worked his way back to fitness on the sister bike after a broken arm sustained in November.
The Marc VDS duo took control on day two though with Morbidelli going fastest but Marquez would ultimately end the week on top after setting a 1:41.989 on Friday, inside the existing lap record. Oliveira held onto third despite failing to improve on his day one benchmark while Dominique Aegerter took fourth for Kiefer Racing on the leading Suter.
Jorge Navarro finished as the leading rookie in fifth on the Gresini Kalex with Mattia Pasini completing the top six, just ahead of Takaaki Nakagami. Fabio Quartararo was another of the rookies to impress in eighth, edging out experienced pair Axel Pons and Thomas Luthi, but Lorenzo Baldassarri took no part whatsoever due to an inflammation of a tendon in his left arm.
Moto2 Official Pre-Season Test – Jerez (Combined Classification)
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