If the three world Championship classes had something in common on day one at Jerez, it was that times were somewhat lower than previous visits to the Spanish track. Perhaps this was down to high temperatures –particularly during the Moto2 sessions. The intermediate class had many riders going faster in the morning than in the day-closing afternoon session. Redding and Rabat battled for the top spot all day, with the latter eventually taking it. Six chassis manufacturers placed in the top ten, in a varied day for the Moto2 field. Times were close, promising a great qualifying session tomorrow and race on Sunday.
The MAPFRE Aspar riders today experienced similar feelings with their machinery and the track, even though Jordi Torres put in his fastest time in the morning session and Nico Terol in the afternoon. Torres began strong at Jerez and was fourth quickest in the opening session. His workload focused on improving the rear of his bike and at the end of the day he placed fifth on the combined timesheet –one second off the top spot.
Terol found it slightly harder to find the best solution for the lack of rear grip, but in the closing stages of the second session of the day he had made headway and stopped the clock at 1.44.413. Both riders were happy with their performance on the first day, and expect to continue to improve on Saturday morning in preparation for qualifying.
5th Jordi Torres 1.44.231 (38 laps): “Before arriving in Jerez we were confident that we could be in the top ten from the start, because preseason testing went well here and we were at the top every day. We drew some conclusions from that, but we had a different plan for today based on findings from the first two races. I rode pretty fast this morning, although I was lacking confidence with the rear. We decided to see if the problem could be changed in the second session of the day. We decided to play around with the swingarm and, although we weren’t as fast, we found some good data regarding weight transfer. Based on that, we know which direction to take tomorrow and for the rest of the weekend. I am happy and I can see that a good result is possible here, so we will work towards that.”
9th Nico Terol 1.44.413 (34 laps): "The day has been positive. This morning we struggled a bit to find feeling, but as the day went on we got closer to the leading times. Throughout the day we looked to improve the grip on the rear and we have been getting there, progressively. The last ten minutes of the afternoon session were very positive, both in terms of the times and the pace. We still need to improve stability in order to open the throttle earlier, but we are happy. It seems that most riders have had trouble with grip. That may partly be because of the heat, or because it's the first day and the track is still dirty. In fact, in general the times have been slow. Our engine has improved a lot, I'm happy with it and, when we find a solution to the grip issue, we can think about having a good race. We have also worked with various tyre compounds already. I am satisfied and I think tomorrow we will be on the road to fighting for the top positions. Although it is true that at this round, more than others, times are going to be very tight.”
Mapfre Aspar Moto2 Press Release
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