Tech3 Racing Team’s Marcel Schrotter and stand in rider Ricky Cardus today concluded the final pre-season test at the Circuito de Jerez in southern Spain, with just over a week until the start of the Moto2 World Championship. After various developments and improvements were made during the winter by the Tech3 Racing Team to enhance the Mistral 610, the team took advantage of three days of near perfect weather conditions to make the final preparations before the beginning of the season.
Marcel Schrotter concluded his last preseason test with a general feeling of positivity and optimism for the 2014 Moto2 World Championship. The young German worked tirelessly to establish his base set up and then undertook slight modification changes, in particular on the front section of his bike to improve brake stability and turning. Schrotter had an unfortunate crash in the afternoon which forced him to run into the gravel. However, he was uninjured and the bike was not majorly damaged. With his confidence and experience increasing consistently, the young German and his Tech3 Racing Team finished the session with a best lap 1:43.149 in 16th position.
Young Spanish rider Ricky Cardus began his adaptation to the Mistral 610 at Jerez this week, in preparation for the opening Moto2 race at Qatar. Cardus is temporarily replacing the injured Alex Mariñelarena who is recovering from an injury sustained at a private test at the end of February. Having never ridden the Tech 3 Racing Team bike before, the Spaniard proceeded to undertake a shake-down initially, having not raced a Moto2 motorcycle since the last season’s final round at Valencia. On the following days, his knowledge of the Mistral 610 grew, as his confidence did. At the close of the test, Cardus finished the session in 26th place with a best time of 1:44.029.
Marcel Schrotter – 1:43.159 – 16th:
“I am quite happy with the work we have done over the past three days as we managed to test a lot of settings to make the bike more comfortable over race distance. We focused mainly on the front section of the Mistral, trying to improve the braking and turning. A big positive that I can take home is that all of the fastest laps were on old tyres, which gives me confidence in race distance. I feel there is still some improvement to be made with how the bike reacts on new tyres, but this was never the main aim at this test. I am looking forward to Qatar and feel confident of fighting for top 10 finishes and having a good season this year”.
Ricky Cardus – 1:44.029 – 26th:
“First of all, I want to say thank you to the team for the opportunity and the faith they placed in me to test their bike. Of course, it’s not the way I’d like to get on the bike, and I really hope Alex recovers quickly. In all honesty, the test went well and was a really good experience. At first, after 3 months of not riding, I struggled to adapt straight away. I saw how far back I was and became slightly nervous. However, with more time on the bike I improved and felt better every day. My fastest lap could have been quicker but unfortunately I made a mistake in it. The lap time was not the most important part of this test for me, as I needed to prepare myself as much as possible for the first race, which I am really looking forward to”.
Tech 3 Racing Press Release
