Nico Terol & Jordi Torres spend day one combatting front end grip issues

The Moto2 class was the most fortunate of the three World Championship categories on Friday in Italy, as it was able to complete both of its practice sessions on a dry track. Some damp patches made the riders take a cautious approach in the morning, but in the afternoon it was a fully dry session for the intermediate class.

Takaaki Nakagami and Esteve Rabat were the leaders in the two Friday sessions, with some of the Italian riders also going strong at their home round. With times tight and the weather unpredictable, an entertaining weekend is in store for the category.

Even though the asphalt was largely dry for the opening session at Mugello, damp patches meant that prudence was the order of the day. The MAPFRE Aspar riders used the run to reacquaint themselves with Mugello, before getting the real work underway in the afternoon. Nico Terol and Jordi Torres both suffered with a lack of front end grip in the dry afternoon run, but despite this Terol was still able to stick with the frontrunners for pace. He placed eighth on the timesheet and was some six-tenths off the best time of the day.

Torres was twentieth, 1.4 off the top spot. Both are now sure of what to address on Saturday’s second day of practice.

8th Nico Terol 1’54.239 (40 laps):
“This morning I didn’t feel comfortable with the track full of damp patches. But it was good for me to ride with the asphalt like this, in order to find a new feeling and learn to ride in a difficult situation. This afternoon I felt much more comfortable, we worked to offset a few difficulties. We had some chattering when changing direction and also lacked a little grip when we were at full lean. The good thing is that we know what to try in order to find an improvement tomorrow, so we will get on that at the start of the day. I am happy with how today went, but we still have to work hard to solve some problems. I also have to get up to full speed, as I rode fast here last year and have some good memories of the track. We still have time on our side, so I am calm. We placed eighth today, with a good pace, so we have to be happy.”

20th Jordi Torres 1’55.035 (35 laps):
“This morning the track was very difficult to ride on, because of the damp patches, but despite this I was able to refresh my memory from when I last rode here two years ago. In the afternoon the track conditions improved a lot and I tried to push a bit more. When looking for the limit I found that there is something about the front end that is not allowing me to ride with finesse. I am unable to lean in as much as I want and that proves costly on cornering. We have to work so that the bike is more stable and that we can be steadier when cornering. After today’s work we have thought up a few changes to make tomorrow. Basically, we feel that we need to load more weight onto the front end in order to make the bike turn better and faster.”

Source: Aspar Media