Moto2/Moto3 Valencia J.2 Tests Mid-day update: finally, we're switching to slicks!

The Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia has been welcoming, since yesterday and for three days, competitors in the Moto2 and Moto3 categories for the first tests of this 2018 season.

The schedule for each day includes three sessions of 1 hour 10 minutes for each category, distributed between 9:30 a.m. and 17:30 p.m. as follows:

After one Tuesday day which came down to 26 laps of Dominique Aegerter in Moto2 and the 31 loops of Fabio DiGiannantonio in Moto3, we could have hoped for better for today…

Unfortunately, this was without taking into account the always capricious weather which this morning left the asphalt of the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia completely wet.

Under these conditions, the report of the first three sessions of the day is quite quick to produce:

During the single session Moto2 of the morning, Stefano manzi was the fastest, in 1'48.175, and Isaac Viñales the most diligent, with 20 laps.
As a reminder, Johann zarco has held the local record since 2016, in 1'34.879.

En moto3, the first session was dominated by gabriel rodrigo (KTM, RBA BOE Skull Rider Team) in 1'53.656 after 4 laps, to compare to the record of 1'38.428 established by George Martin in 2017.

With the surface finally drying, the second session saw many more competitors take to the track, under the leadership of Marco Bezzecchi (KTM, Prüstl GP) who set a first time after 4 laps, in 1'46.788.
The good news did not stop there since a few minutes later, the drivers were finally able to switch to slick tires and gabriel rodrigo  first established a 1'44.383 in his 4th lap then 1'43.888 a few laps later.

However, things did not stop there since Tatsuki suzuki (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Marco Bezzecchi went down the provisional benchmark in 1'42.237 15 minutes from the checkered flag, before the Italian from the VR46 Riders Academy clocked a 1'41.828 in the final seconds. He is followed by Niccolo Antonelli (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Tony Arbolino (Honda, Marinelli Rivacold Snipers).

In total, 17 Moto3 riders took to the track this morning.