The Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia this week hosted the first official 2018 pre-season tests for the Moto3 and Moto2 categories.
Despite difficult weather conditions, Marcel Schrötter et Xavi Verge had a good first impression of their brand new Kalex, which is all the more important as the German team abandoned its 2017 Suters in favor of German machines.
Having skipped the first day due to rain and cold, the two drivers of the team Dynavolt Intact GP managed to complete their first laps on Wednesday afternoon, taking advantage of the tarmac going from 0 to 17°.
More than honorably, Marcel Schrötter finished 5th on the second day and 7th on the last, just ahead of his Spanish teammate who defected from Tech3, the two men being 6 tenths behind the fastest of these tests.
Marcel Schrötter, 7th, 1'36.383, 79 laps: " I am very happy. With these cold temperatures it was important to use the available track time and do as many laps as possible in order to get the first feel of the bike. It's a good sign that we got used to the Kalex so quickly. Everything is very different, the Suter, for example, was completely different in terms of the seating position. Now it's the other way around. Nevertheless, we rode with respectable times in a short time, which shows that the bike works very well. Of course, the rider still has to give everything to get that last second, and the confidence in the bike has to be good, but we're not there yet. We have a basic setup and we've managed to make improvements with just a few tweaks. With each lap, I feel more comfortable on the bike. In these conditions you don't need to look for pole position times, but that doesn't mean we are on another planet. We were with the guys at the front during every session. I have to admit that I'm really happy to be back on a Kalex. It's pure pleasure. I'm also very happy that I didn't crash and that everything remained intact. A positive test, and now we will continue our work in Jerez. »
Xavi Verge, 8th, 1'36.417, 93 laps: “I am very happy with the first laps on the Kalex, especially after this long wait. Due to these conditions, the test wasn't quite what I was hoping for. It was quite cold, which made the first test difficult. Therefore, we did not seek the limit, in order to minimize the risk of falling. We did a good job and tried to do as many laps as possible. I am very happy with these first two days of testing in Valencia. Now we will do another test in Jerez and seriously start working on our settings. »
Jürgen Lingg, Team manager: “Everything started really well. We asked our riders to go slowly to get used to the new bike. We made very few changes to the settings. It was more important to do as many laps as possible. The conditions were really difficult. Despite everything, both drivers felt good from the start, which is a good sign. They drove as much as possible. We learned some lessons from it. The riders will take the bikes back to Jerez and definitely know that it is their bike. It was surprisingly easy and I felt like both were relieved after that first test. »
The second test of the year will take place in Jerez next week, February 12-14. The weather forecasts predict milder temperatures in Valencia…
Mucha expectativas puestas en @XaviVierge (@IntactGP) Y @Jorge_Navarro9 (@GresiniRacing). They are our cues that we hope for this time. # Moto2 #ValenciaTest pic.twitter.com/NUbBbttymc
— MotoGP in Movistar+ (@movistar_motogp) February 9, 2018
Combined ranking of the 3 days of Valencia testing:
1. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 1'35.799
2. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) +0.016
3. Simone Corsi (Kalex) +0.136
4. Miguel Oliveira (KTM) +0.367
5. Isaac Vinales (Kalex) +0.443
6. Héctor Barbera (Kalex) +0.470
7. Marcel Schrötter (Kalex) +0.604
8. Xavi Virgo (Kalex) +0.638
9. Romano Fenati (Kalex) +0.918
10. Brad Binder (KTM) +0.950
11. Fabio Quartararo (Speed Up) +1.022
12. Bo Bendsneyder (Tech3) +1.064
13. Joe Roberts (NTS) +1.100
14. Jorge Navarro (Kalex) +1.198
15. Remy Gardner (Tech3) +1.254
16. Steven Odendaal (NTS) +1.286
17. Tetsuta Nagashima (Kalex) +1,508
18th Danny Kent (Speed Up) +1,528
19. Stefano Manzi (Suter) +1,529
20. Andrea Locatelli (Kalex) +1,620
21. Eric Granado (Suter) +1,635
22. Khairul Idham Pawi (Kalex) +1,649
23. Dominique Aegerter (KTM) +1,666
24. Federico Fuligni (Kalex) +2.147
25. Jules Danilo (Kalex) +2.469
26. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Kalex) +2.814
Photo credits: © Intact GP – F. Glänzel
