Simon breaks circuit record as he continues to shine, Fores takes it step by step
In contrast to yesterday many riders went out on track in the first minutes of today’s test session, to focus most of their test schedule on the morning. The distribution of test time was the same as the first day. After a combined morning session (the longest) and one in the afternoon there’s one hour for each class alone. Today the Moto2 riders were the first to finish the day. Winter or not, and regardless of it just being testing, some riders are obviously taking this as the start of th season. At the moment the names Simón, Takahasi, De Angelis y Iannone, regarding laptimes, sound louder than the rest.
Almost entirely recovered from his fever Julian Simon completed an excellent day’s work. Shortly after noon he lapped at a ’36 pace with relative ease, and he didn’t stop testing new things throughout the day. He continued testing to find the best set-up for the new chassis, but the Mapfre Aspar rider also had time to test the brakes and exhaust. Before the end of the combined session he completed a run at a strong pace, which set his fastest time of the time, 1.36.073. The Manchego was completely satisfied with his work on the second day and the enormous potential of the new Suter chassis.
Xavi Forés was able to use a full day for the first today, because yesterday much of the day was lost by the replacement of the engine. The Llombay native also used most of the day fpr the development of the frame. Accustomed to bigger bikes that Moto2 and still in the process of adaptation to the new category he already clocked a 1.37.60, a very good time, especially considering that it comes from a newbie.
Julián Simón 1.36.073 (45 laps): “”The day went very well, today the track was in better condition. Yesterday I had a tough day and finished early because of the fever. I am still a bit affected by the flu, but I could ride at 100%. We are focusing on working with the new chassis, to try to get better in the corners. I still do not get into the corners completely comfortable, but the feeling is infinitely better than last year, the shattering has gone to a large degree. The pace today was constant and with fast laptimes, I am very happy about that. I still need to improve the performance of the chassis in a couple of corners, but I think we worked fantastic on the second day. Because of that I’ve enjoyed riding, like a child. This chassis is a lot stiffer and stable, I can ride as I want and brake late. This year the class will also be very close, but I am calm because we have a great potential.”
Xavi Forés 1.37.690 (66 laps): “Creo que estamos dando los pasos oportunos, así que estoy muy motivado para seguir trabajando en esta línea”.
“Today was like my first real day of training, because yesterday we could not ride a lot. We worked mostly on the frame of the Suter. It was a positive day, because regarding the chassis, suspensions and other things we improved throughout the day. But we still have a lot to do and we have some important changes we’ll try tomorrow. Right now I do not pay attention to the laptime because everything is so new to me, what I want is to do a lot of laps and gradually get used to this bike. I’m used to 1000cc bikes and it’s difficult for me to adapt to a different style of going through the corners, but slowly I’m getting to know this category and adapt to it. I think we are on the right way, so I’m very motivated to keep working like this.”
Source: Mapfre Aspar Team
