After a nice splash in the wheel of Valentino Rossi this morning, Pol Espargaro is the best placed of the 3 Red Bull KTM riders at the end of this first day of testing in Jerez de la Frontera.
10th in the combined standings, 0.697s behind Cal Crutchlow, the Granollers driver took advantage of the test carried out on the Andalusian circuit at the end of March.
Espargaro Pol : “We are working hard, although I realize that the group of guys at the front will be difficult to beat. But in the morning I achieved a good result, in the afternoon we focused more on race pace. We know we can have a fast lap and we are in the top 10. It is very good. On Saturday we need something more, because everyone will be pushing even harder. But everything is clear. We definitely suffer more in races abroad. On European circuits we have more information. Here we have everything under better control, it's much easier for us. We were able to attack from the start and therefore we were faster.”
Asked about his renewal within the Austrian firm, the 26-year-old Catalan cannot hide his joy: “I’m very happy and very excited. It was a priority for me to stay with KTM. KTM treats me very well, it's like I'm in a big family. I feel very good. And that reinforces my opinion about my speed.”
Behind him we find Mika Kallio who is making his first wild card of the year here. The KTM test rider outperformed starting rider Bradley Smith on Friday and conceded just 0,3 seconds to Pol Espargaró.
Mika Kallio : “We were here only a few weeks ago for the test. So we have a good base. I'm using a new configuration of our machine. It will be interesting to see what we can achieve in the race. I did a lot of laps to test our level. I am satisfied with our work. We still lacked grip on the rear wheel, but we hope to find a solution on Saturday.”
The Finn is currently testing an engine evolution for 2019: “Of course, we have already worked for 2019. I'm riding a bike with new components, because it's a good place to see if everything works and where we are. We are here to define the direction of the future. The changes are more on the engine side. We need to analyze exactly what we are doing here. The most important thing will be the race because we often encountered problems over the hours.”
Bradley Smith finished 20th, not only behind Espargaró, but also behind Mika Kallio, giving 1.3 seconds to the best time. His departure from the Red Bull KTM team at the end of 2018 is no longer a secret, but the British rider must show himself at his best if he is to have any hope of remaining in MotoGP…
Bradley Smith: “We tried several different things. We tried the tires and tested elements for the fork. In the morning we followed Pol's direction, but now we have made a new plan. All KTM riders rode in 1'39 and are close. It's good. Unfortunately, I had brake problems in both sessions. Overall, I’m happy with Friday.”
Jerez MotoGP J.1 Combined Chronos:
1 35 LCR Honda CASTROL C.CRUTCHLOW GBR HONDA 1'38.614
2 26 Repsol Honda Team D.PEDROSA SPA HONDA 1'38.642 +0.028
3 5 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 J.ZARCO FRA YAMAHA 1'38.705 +0.091
4 29 Team SUZUKI ECSTAR A.IANNONE ITA SUZUKI 1'38.709 +0.095
5 93 Repsol Honda Team M.MARQUEZ SPA HONDA 1'38.863 +0.154
6 4 Ducati Team A.DOVIZIOSO ITA DUCATI 1'39.068 +0.454
7 99 Ducati Team J.LORENZO SPA DUCATI 1'39.076 +0.462
8 43 Alma Pramac Racing J.MILLER AUS DUCATI 1'39.102 +0.488
9 46 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP V.ROSSI ITA YAMAHA 1'39.248 +0.634
10 44 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing P.ESPARGARO SPA KTM 1'39.311 +0.697
11 9 Alma Pramac Racing D.PETRUCCI ITA DUCATI 1'39.429 + 0.815
12 25 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP M.VIÑALES SPA YAMAHA 1'39.514 +0.900
13 17 Angel Nieto Team K.ABRAHAM CZE DUCATI 1'39.541 +0.927
14 42 Team SUZUKI ECSTAR A.RINS SPA SUZUKI 1'39.575 +0.961
15 45 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini S.REDDING GBR APRILIA 1'39.585 +0.971
16 36 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing M.KALLIO FIN KTM 1'39.661 +1.047
17 30 LCR Honda IDEMITSU T.NAKAGAMI JPN HONDA 1'39.694 +1.080
18 53 Reale Avintia Racing T.RABAT SPA DUCATI 1'39.888 +1.274
19 41 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini A.ESPARGARO SPA APRILIA 1'39.899 +1.285
20 38 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing B.SMITH GBR KTM 1'39.948 +1.334
21 21 EG 0,0 Marc VDS F.MORBIDELLI ITA HONDA 1'39.951 +1.337
22 19 Angel Nieto Team A.BAUTISTA SPA DUCATI 1'39.969 +1.355
23 12 EG 0,0 Marc VDS T.LUTHI SWI HONDA 1'40.241 +1.627
24 55 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 H.SYAHRIN MAL YAMAHA 1'40.488 +1.874
25 10 Reale Avintia Racing X.SIMEON BEL DUCATI 1'40.663 +2.049
