Jorge Martín continues to surprise with swift Grand Prix adaptation
Less than a week on from the first test of preseason at Valencia, the Moto2 and Moto3 riders were back on track together today at Jerez for the second session of 2015 and another three days of hard work.
After rain hit last week’s sessions further up the Mediterranean coast, the biggest enemy for the riders today in the south of Spain was the low temperature and strong winds, as the Moto2 and Moto3 riders took alternate sessions on track.
The wind relented slightly for the final Moto3 session, allowing the riders to set some strong lap times with home rider Isaac Viñales finishing the day on top of the timesheets.
The three MAPFRE Aspar Team riders contesting the Moto3 World Championship in 2015 battled through the conditions to complete crucial laps at Jerez last week and they weren’t to be deterred by the cold and wind today.
Team rookie Jorge Martín is the name on everybody’s lips so far this preseason, and after lapping very much on the pace in the wet in Valencia he was back amongst the frontrunners today. The youngster worked assiduously on his suspension settings, gradually lowering his lap time to a 1’47.123 during the final session.
His team-mates also made a jump in quality in their last few laps, Juanfran Guevara clocking 1’48.294 after working throughout the day on his clutch and gearbox, whilst Pecco Bagnaia was less than a tenth behind the Spaniard as he focused on improving his performance in the fast corners.
4th Jorge Martín 1.47.123 (56 laps):
“I struggled to get on the pace at the start of the day, I couldn’t get comfortable in the wind and found it hard to get the bike into the corners. As the day progressed we changed the geometry of the bike and improved our feeling and after using used tyres in the opening two sessions of the day we switched to new rubber at the end, adjusted the suspension and pushed for a time. We will try a new rear shock tomorrow and another setting on the front but I am happy to already be lapping in the 1’47s on the first day, which I think is a great time and one I didn’t expect. The important thing is that I am already to comfortably set a strong pace so we need to continue like this.”
12th Juanfran Guevara 1.48.294 (56 laps):
“We tried a few things today, mainly with the clutch and gearbox. We still don’t have the set-up exactly how we want it and we are losing some time coming down through the gearbox into some of the corners. I’m struggling to get the bike stopped in the hard braking zones and I’m running wide. That is the main concern from today. We have worked with two different shock settings to try and cope with the strong winds but in any case the new Mahindra chassis works so well it wasn’t too much of a problem.”
Source: Aspar Media
