Torres & Terol continue testing progress in improving conditions

Blue skies made for perfect conditions for the final full day of Moto2 preseason testing at Jerez on Wednesday, where only two brief delays caused by red flags interrupted an otherwise relentless day of hard work.

Lap times in the intermediate category continue to fall although they are still not on pace with the last test here Jerez back in February. The day’s pacesetter was Pol Espargaró, followed by Nakagami and Simón, with no fewer than six Spanish riders in the top ten.

Nico Terol completed 69 laps and Jordi Torres 72, both putting together a string of short bursts as they looked to improve the performance of their machines, specifically in terms of rear grip and their new clutch systems.

Both riders ended the day feeling satisfied with the job done, having both clocked their best times in the exclusive Moto2 session. Terol was the fifth fastest rider on track with a time of 1’43.438, with Torres an encouraging seventh fastest.

5th Nico Terol 1.43.438 (69 laps):
“I’m grateful for the good weather today because we really needed some dry testing time. We had to work on the engine braking but we still have work to do to improve corner entry. We have taken a big step today though and hopefully we can make that final ‘click’ tomorrow. Otherwise I am happy with our pace, which was comfortably in the mid 1’43s, and with the progress we made on the rear end, especially under acceleration. Every little step is making the bike easier to ride and I am sure we can still improve a lot more.”

7th Jordi Torres 1.43.641 (72 laps):
“We had a lot of work to do today because of yesterday’s rain and it was all hands on deck from the first thing this morning. With the new engine we were struggling a little to get the bike stopped so we worked on that and in the break between the first session and the exclusive Moto2 session we tried to work it out and come up with some ideas. We improved the situation but were still getting some bouncing on the rear so we needed to work on that. We have done 72 laps today, tested a tonne of things and now we have a lot of options. Tomorrow we will try to pick the right ones and go even faster than today. I’m tired now but happy with the feeling we have found. Hopefully we can confirm it on the final day of the test.”

Source: Aspar Media