Jorge Martin optimistic despite testing crashes
The second and final day of a private Moto2 and Moto3 test took place today at Jerez, where a damp and foggy start gradually cleared, although temperatures remained slightly lower than yesterday.
Today the Moto2 and Moto3 riders alternated hour-long sessions on track, with some early preseason contenders starting to show their hand even though a number of riders opted not to share their lap times.
With plenty of work still to be done before the start of the season, the teams will be back at Jerez next week for three days of official testing – the first of the 2016 preseason.
The work on Jorge Martín’s side of the Aspar garage today revolved largely around repairs, with the Spaniard crashing this morning in turn five and then again this afternoon in turn two.
Problems with his new gearbox saw him switch back to the old version, but the test has been a worthwhile opportunity for him to get a feel for the Mahindra MGP30 2016, with three further days of tests at the same circuit to look forward to next week.
7th – Jorge Martín 1.48.481 (30 laps):
“Today was a difficult day because I crashed early on and it took time to repair the bike. The gearbox wasn’t working well and going into turn five I had to brake a little extra so that I didn’t run into the gravel, but I crashed. All morning we had trouble downshifting so in the end we went back to last year’s gearbox. That meant I could ride more comfortably but then in the penultimate session I had another crash. So in the end we haven’t done many laps today but luckily the team have worked very hard towards the next test. I hurt my left hip and arm in the second crash but it’s not serious, just some bruising. It has been good to get a feel for the new Mahindra, which is quite different to the old one. It has more potential in certain areas, such as acceleration. In comparison with the others we still have work to do but hopefully there is time before the next test for Mahindra to improve some things.”
Source: Aspar Media