The final day of a three day test at Valencia proved to be the best in terms of the conditions, with spring temperatures and no sign of the winds that had dogged the previous two days. In the Moto2 class the lap times tumbled inside record pace with Nico Terol and Pol Espargaró taking their personal duel under the 1'35 mark, where they were joined by Julián Simón. Track action ceased at 5pm today, with the riders due to resume testing duties at Jerez next Tuesday.
ASPAR Team rider Terol could barely contain his delight after a being amongst the pacesetters throughout the test, improving his feeling with the new Suter 2013 and dropping his best lap time to a sensational 1'34.777 today – four tenths inside the best Moto2 lap at Cheste and a second quicker than his fastest effort yesterday. On the other side of the garage Jordi Torres made equally impressive progress, shaving 1.2 seconds off his best time from yesterday to clock a 1'35.084 and finish the test fourth fastest overall.
2nd Nico Terol 1.34.777 (53 laps):
“We spent all day working with the new bike today and my feeling with it is very positive. I felt comfortable from the first lap and the lap times have been good. The difference to the old bike is not huge, it is just a little stiffer and gives the more rider improved feel and more confidence. We'll keep working at Jerez to get a bit more stability from the front end but other than that we are where we should be and now we just need to find a bit of race pace, with some longer runs on used rubber, because the start of the season is around the corner. Moto2 is always crazy but to start the preseason so strongly is great. I did a few laps in the 1'34s today, which was my objective so I am satisfied with that. The team have taken a big step forward, with my team-mate Jordi also performing to a high level. The potential of the Aspar Team this season is clear and we need to keep going like this.”
4th Jordi Torres 1.35.084 (60 laps):
“We continued to work on the new chassis today after trying lots of different things over the past two days. During the exclusive Moto2 session today we found our best setting and decided to push for a few laps to see what we were capable of. The lap times were great and so was the feeling with the bike. We kept pushing right to the end and found a way to smooth out the front end, which helped us deal with a few of the bumps in corner entry. The focus today was to try some different geometry settings to get the bike turning better. The conditions were better and that allowed us to go much faster. The overall feeling from the last three days is great and I was looking forward to it after a long winter. I love the new bike, the lap times are good and I don't think we could ask for much more than that at this stage. We are moving in the right direction.”
Mapfre Aspar Press Release
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