At the end of this first day of official IRTA testing in Jerez, we were able to speak with Alain Bronec to understand the atmosphere of this return to school in the Moto3 category.
We found a team manager satisfied with the work accomplished but who is waiting until Friday evening to provide a more consistent assessment of this first series of tests.
Nevertheless, everything went according to the work plan for the two Rookies of the French team, one of whom, seconded by the VR46 Riders Academy to the CIP team, already seems to us to generate some hopes...
Alain, what were the conditions like today?
“Perfect! The track climbed to 44° before dropping back to 28 at the end of the afternoon when a light wind picked up. But overall it was a beautiful day with perfect conditions.”
This obviously has an influence on the times…
" Yes of course ! This type of weather, which is frequently found in winter in Spain, favors the lap times since, with the fresh air, the engines work very well and the tires grip on the hot track. This is why we see records regularly broken here in winter, while things will perhaps run a little slower during the Grand Prix.”
With your experience, how do you estimate the level of this 2017 season?
”I think it’s going to be an incredible level! Cannet turned in 46. It’s starting to be very fast!”
How was your day?
“The day was interesting because it was the first day with everyone. The team is coming together and we have worked well, with good collaboration with Mahindra. We are therefore happy with this day and we are focused on the work to do with our two drivers. Honestly, things are going pretty well and I'm happy with what's happening.
Overall, Marco Bezzecchi is 13th. For a first day, it's very fair, especially since we switched to soft tires when the track was still a little too hot. We probably should have waited until the very end of the afternoon so as not to damage the tires too quickly. But that didn't stop us from confirming what we did last week here, namely the settings for the race. We still have two days left to validate everything before heading to Qatar to do the same thing in preparation for the first race of the season.
On the other side of the box, Manuel Pagliani does not yet have much experience with the Mahindra and therefore must line up the laps. It is still in the discovery phase. This morning, it was obviously a little difficult but, at the end of the afternoon, we found a setting that was interesting for him. He is therefore progressing quickly and it's not so bad especially since, unlike Bezzecchi, he was using a 2016 engine today. Starting tomorrow morning, he will do the Shakedown and a little running-in of the 2017 then we will keep this engine for the Qatar trials. ”
Today, do we know exactly who has 2016 engines and who has 2017 engines?
”No, it’s impossible to know. At KTM, some seem to have very good engines while others don't. The new Honda engines are only supposed to arrive in Qatar, which is not a problem given their history of development and reliability.
Your conclusion?
”There is nothing really exceptional to say, except that Bezzecchi is still impressive. Except at the end of the day, he has always been 5 or 6/10 off the best time and is fast from his first flying laps. We're not going to move forward too quickly and we'll see where we are at the end of these tests, but I think it has really very interesting potential. At the moment we are just happy and trying to continue working as best as possible.”
