Jordi Torres & Nico Terol impressed with revamped Indianapolis
Esteve Rabat and Dominique Aegerter dominated the first and second free practice sessions respectively as the Moto2 season resumed following the summer break at Indianapolis today.
With changes to five corners and a new track surface there was plenty for the riders to get used to on their first day ‘back at school’ but the pace was as hot as ever in Moto2, with the lap times tumbling by five seconds compared to last year’s layout and with plenty of contenders for Rabat and Aegerter to consider in the battle for the podium on Sunday.
MAPFRE Aspar pair Jordi Torres and Nico Terol are hoping to close the gap tomorrow, with Torres lapping inside the top ten today as he evaluated an update to his Suter chassis. The Spaniard clocked a best lap of 1’38.293, seven tenths of a second off top spot, with plenty more to come tomorrow.
His team-mate Terol also reported positive feelings for his bike and the new track, having set a series of long and consistent runs that saw him finish with the 23rd fastest time on track.
10th Jordi Torres 1.38.293 (47 laps):
“The changes they have made to the track here at Indianapolis have been very positive. I think all the riders agree it is safer and gives you more confidence to ride, especially with the wider corners. In the past a lot of crashes were caused by the necessity to change direction aggressively but that has changed and it is a good thing. I didn’t expect the new surface to have so much grip, so that’s a nice surprise too. We have a chassis update for this weekend so the objective for us is to make it work and we had a good first session this morning. We made some more steps forward this afternoon that made me feel more comfortable again but I need to learn to let the bike run through the corners here. The feeling after the first day is good and hopefully we can take another step tomorrow.”
23rd Nico Terol 1.38.833 (44 laps):
“The new circuit is quite interesting and also faster. The chicane onto the straif=ght is really cool and the surface is good too because it has more grip. They have done a lot of hard work to improve the circuit and that’s positive. We worked hard all day to close the gap to the guys at the top but we’re still struggling. Anyway, we’re doing a good job and I’m hopeful we can tae a step forward tomorrow. I am satisfied because we are on the right lines and we did some long and consistent runs today. If we keep going like this we will close the gap to the guys in front of us. We did a lot of work today with the hard tyre and found some good grip, we just need to get the bike turning better in the flowing sections.”
Source: Aspar Media
