Important test for Salom at Mugello: “I don’t think I ever tested so many things in one day!”

With no time to rest, the Red Bull KTM Ajo team stayed on in Tuscany after Sunday in order to participate today in the first official test day since the beginning of the season. Luis Salom, Zulfahmi Khairuddin and Arthur Sissis were satisfied with the testing carried out on the KTM chassis prepared for this Moto3-only day. The final conclusions were very positive and the team hopes that they can be begin to implement the changes at Montmelo, the next venue on the calendar.

Two days on from the victory for Luis Salom at the Italian Grand Prix, the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders were back on their Moto3 bikes for further development. The day was intense, with only an hour’s break at midday and many hours on track.

Salom, Sissis and Zulfahmi Khairuddin put in continuous laps at the 5.245km Italian circuit, with the latter riding the most laps with 42. Salom tried out a new chassis that KTM had brought to Mugello, whilst his teammates dedicated their day to testing new parts and configurations with the current frame.

In the final runout, all three improved their lap times. Arthur Sissis was the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider most comfortable compared to his weekend, clocking a fastest lap of under 2 minutes and besting his time from qualifying. Zulfahmi Khairuddin finished up early thanks to a small, harmless crash.

In the combined afternoon session, Luis Salom was fifth fastest with a 1:58.420 lap, Arthur Sissis —1:59.925— thirteenth and Zulfhami Khairuddin —2:00.290— seventeenth.

Luis Salom: “It was a tough day, intense and long. I don’t think I have ever tried out so many things in one day of testing! I put in a lot of laps and kilometres. Due to this, we have taken important and positive conclusions from today to try to take advantage of at the next event, the Grand Prix of Catalonia.”

Source: Ajo Motorsport