D2: Moto2 and Moto3 continue to break records during testing in Jerez!

If yesterday the best benchmarks in the Moto2 and Moto3 categories were lowered during the first of three days of IRTA testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, today, helped by particularly excellent weather and track conditions (21 ° on the ground, 34° on the track), the records have once again been revised downwards, as is often the case in winter on the Andalusian track.

The past has indeed taught us that the times achieved later in the season during the Grand Prix in May rarely matched those achieved in a less warm month of February. Another important element in explaining the current excellent times is that the times of drivers going beyond the curbs are not canceled, and some benefit more than greatly from it...

But, to complicate matters, the engines used during these tests are not necessarily those which will be supplied to competitors this year. If in the past doubts crept in regarding the Honda engine of some of the Moto2 teams, this no longer seems to apply with the Triumph engine and, on the contrary, certain motorcycles should even go faster during the season, like the KTM Moto3 who are currently only running with their “old” 2019 engines.

In any case, the pace is currently impressive in the two categories present, each of which saw its record fall during this intermediate day.

For this second day, unlike yesterday, it is the category Moto3 which opened the track for the first session of the morning. A session that was somewhat cool but nevertheless had excellent track conditions from the start with immaculate skies.

The British pilot John mcphee (Honda, Petronas Sprinta Racing), which was the fastest yesterday during the second session, was again the fastest during the morning session, with a lap in 1'45.175, immediately beating the yesterday's fastest time Sergio Garcia (Honda, Estrella Galicia 0,0).
The second session was slower than the previous one, the Japanese Ai Ogura (Honda, Honda Team Asia) dominating it with a time of 1'45.362.
But unlike yesterday, the third and final session was the fastest of the day, thanks to the Argentinian Gabriel Rodrigo (Honda, Kömmerling Gresini Moto3), the man who held all the track records until yesterday, who, in 1'45.170, once again seized leadership, and the record, by only 5 thousandths.

Behind him, in the combined ranking of the day, we found John mcphee thanks to his morning time, then Ai Ogura and its time of the intermediate session.

Six Hondas currently precede a pack of seven KTMs interspersed by the Honda of Filip Salac (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team). The Husqvarnas, redecorated KTMs, are a little disappointing for the moment…

Some falls were deplored, including those of Albert Arenas (2 times) (KTM, Aspar Team), Alonso lopez (2 times) (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), Nicolò Antonelli (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse), Jaume Masia (Honda, Leopard Racing) and Stefano Nepa (KTM, Aspar Team).

En Moto2, the Spanish rookie Arón Canet (Speed Up, Aspar team) continues to be very fast during these tests and opened the first session with the best time. Yesterday, he finished the day in fifth place with a time of 1'41.4, but today, he managed to improve this during the second session in 1'40.710, which took him to the second place of the day.

Alone Marco Bezzecchi (Kalex, Sky Racing VR46) was able to surpass him by establishing during this second session a new circuit record in 1'40.448, or 4 tenths faster than the best time of Remy Gardner (Kalex, Onexox TKKR SAG Team) yesterday (1'40.848).

Unlike Moto3, no one was able to improve in the last session, George Martin (Kalex, Red Bull KTM Ajo) proving to be the fastest there in 1.40.907 despite the fact that he always travels with a crutch.

Falls were more numerous in Moto2, with Jorge Navarro (Speed Up, +Ego Speed Up), Jesko Raffin (NTS, NTS RW Racing GP) (2 times), Edgar Pons (Kalex, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) (twice), Enea Bastianini (Kalex, Italtrans Racing Team), Héctor Garzó (Kalex, Flex-Box Pons HP 40), Hafiz Syahrin (Speed Up, Aspar team), Jake dixon (Kalex, Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Kalex, Italtrans Racing Team).