The new Sky VR46 Moto2 team owned by Valentino Rossi started this week at Jerez with Pecco Bagnaia and Stefano Manzi on Kalex.
To Francis Bagnaia, who had just ridden a MotoGP in Valencia, the tests went well since he was the fastest rider coming from Moto3, just 9 tenths of the best time established by Takaaki Nakagami (see here).
To Stefano manzi, it was logically more laborious, given his experience and his past results: 18th, 2,8 seconds behind the Japanese driver's time.
This lack of experience of the two pilots is precisely what seems to have justified the choice of Kalex for the Italian team, as its owner declared in Valencia to the press.
Valentino Rossi : “We decided to use Kalex, because we have two very young riders who neither have any experience in Moto2. With Kalex machines we have a secure basis. For me, it seemed too risky to choose another one and select a new brand. »
This response to journalists' questions about a future collaboration with KTM in Moto2, after that in Moto3, justifies a choice which, in any case, did not exist. We know in fact that KTM wanted to focus on the Red Bull Ajo factory team and its riders Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira during this first year in Moto2.
For 2018, however, the door remains open…
Valentino Rossi : » But in the future, KTM could be an option to do the Moto2 World Championship with us. We have a great relationship with the people at KTM.”
We will not forget that Valentino Rossi's influence in Moto2 is not limited to his team alone, but also to that of Forward Racing, where the multiple world champion sheltered two of his pilots, starting with his own brother, Luca marini, next to Lorenzo Baldassarri.
