Hard Work On Day One At Sweltering Sepang For Torres & Moreno

The Moto2 class saw a typically dramatic start to proceedings at Sepang this morning, with turn ten claiming three crash victims before a lap had even been completed. The riders were not informed of a wet patch of track and Cluzel, Márquez and Smith paid an unnecessary price as they went tumbling from their machines, leading to a red flag and a five-minute delay to the session. Cluzel escaped unhurt but the battered Márquez was ruled out for the remainder of the day and Smith for the remainder of the weekend after breaking his collarbone. With the Spaniard out of action series leader Stefan Bradl set pole position, followed by Espargaró and Aegerter.

MAPFRE Aspar pair Jordi Torres and Iván Moreno continued their Asian-Oceanic adventures with a day of learning at Sepang where they had to get used to the intense heat as well as the circuit layout. Both found it tough going and unfortunately both crashed this afternoon on laps that would have improved on their best times. Iván went down midway through the session in turn six whilst Jordi hit the deck in turn fourteen on his final lap. He has grazing to his right knee but that will not prevent him from pushing for better fortunes tomorrow.

31st Jordi Torres 2.11.231 (31 laps):
“This is a long and difficult circuit. We worked hard today but I still haven’t completely learnt my way around. There are some secrets to it and you need time to get to know it well. This morning we got our references and this morning I tried to push but the set-up is not sorted yet and I got a little stressed out. I pushed a bit too hard on the last lap this afternoon and lost the front but we’ll keep working hard tomorrow.”

35th Iván Moreno 2.12.032 (27 laps):
“I like this track a lot, it has a European style and that suits me – I know I can be fast here. I felt comfortable all day and I am getting used to the bike – it is going where I want it to now, not where the bike wants like in Australia. We focused on getting to know the bike and doing as many laps as we could on used tyres today just to get a feeling. It was just a shame that I crashed and we couldn’t keep working. I hit a bump and the front folded but I am unhurt and looking forward to tomorrow.”

Source: Aspar Media