The first day of Moto2 testing in Valencia concluded with Anthony West posting the fastest laptime on a MZ machine. However, since West’s bike is actually his Stiggy Supersport machine and no prototype, this laptime has to be taken with a grain of salt.
Fastest rider on a “real” Moto2 bike was 125cc world champion and Mapfre Aspar rider Julian Simon with team mate Mike Di Meglio clocking the 5th fastest time of the day. Both riders were testing with BQR machinery today.
Results Day 1:
1. Anthony West (AUS), MZ 1:37,4
2. Julian Simon (E), BQR 1:37,9
3. Roberto Rolfo (I), Suter-MMX 1:38,4
4. Raffaele De Rosa (I), Tech3 1:39,2
5. Mike di Meglio (F), BQR 1:39,3
6. Axel Pons (E), Kalex 1:40,4
7. Sergio Gadea (E), Kalex 1:40,4
8. Alessandro Brannetti (I), CRP 1:40,5
Julian Simon
“Today we made some progress with the setup of the bike. Everything is new, but step by step we are getting better and I find the feeling with the chassis. We had doubts over whether there would be some chattering, like the last time we tested here, but I felt comfortable for most of the session. We worked mainly on the front fork to gain confidence during braking and towards the end we used a softer tyre which we achieved decent times with. It’s the first official test I’ve had and I’m very happy with the feeling of the 4-stroke machine. We can still improve on corner entry, but I’m satisfied with the progress we’re making.”
Mike Di Meglio
“Today was a bit complicated, because we had some problems with gear changes and the brakes. We slowly improved that, but we ran out of time for the day. I felt a little less comfortable with the chassis than I did the last time I tried the Moto2 bike here, but I think we can continue the evolution of it tomorrow after what we found today. On the last run today, I went out on the track with a new chassis setup and I managed to improve my laptimes. They are still far from good though, so we can’t relax. I hope the good weather continues tomorrow and we can keep working to better understand the Moto2 bike.”
