At the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, the German manufacturer celebrated its forty-ninth consecutive Moto2 victory, then left it at that as Miguel Oliveira went on to win at Phillip Island, Sepang and Valencia.
KTM therefore clearly dominated the end of the season, and the size of the Austrian manufacturer definitely seems to tip the scales for next year against the German craftsman. But he hasn't said his last word and had his latest creation tried Francis Bagnaia for the Sky Racing Team VR46, Alex Marquez for EG 0,0 Marc VDS and Mattia Pasini for Italtrans Racing Team.
Kalex boss Alex Baumgärtel summed up the results of the Jerez tests as follows: “Márquez, Pasini and Bagnaia rode with the 2018 chassis, the new chassis and swingarm.
“Bagnaia rode for the first time with an Öhlins shock absorber. He felt very comfortable and took a step forward.
“Joan Mir made a good start on the 2017 hardware. There were also different shock setups from Öhlins, and he also, of course, worked on the overall trim and fine tuning.
“The chassis for 2018 is well received, which was also seen in the lap times. In Valencia we will continue with the same drivers on the 2018 material. This way we will be able to collect even more information and if this is constant we will be able to make some final modifications. »
Tests this Thursday in Jerez:
1 Miguel OLIVEIRA (KTM) 1:41.518
2 Francesco BAGNAIA (Kalex 2018) 1:41.622 to 0.104
3 Alex MARQUEZ (Kalex 2018) 1:41.719 to 0.201
4 Brad BINDER (KTM) 1:41.776 to 0.258
5 Danny KENT (Speed Up) 1:41.928 to 0.410
6 Mattia PASINI (Kalex 2018) 1:42.066 to 0.548
7 Luca MARINI (Kalex 2017) 1:42.115 to 0.597
8 Isaac VIÑALES (Kalex 2017) 1:42.236 to 0.718
9 Lorenzo BALDASSARRI 1:42.296 to 0.778
10 Xavi VIRGIN (Suter) 1:42.306 to 0.788
Source: Speedweek. com
