Submitted by David Emmett on
Aki Ajo's teams have a firm grip on the Moto3 class on the second day of testing at Jerez. Jack Miller ended the day on top of the timesheets, well inside the pole record set by Alex Rins in May last year. Miller's teammate Karel Hanika grabbed second spot, the Red Bull Rookie Cup champion of 2013 making an outstanding debut in the class. Rounding out the top three was Danny Kent on the factory Husqvarna, an operation which is also run by Aki Ajo.
Though Miller's time was out of reach of the rest, over a third of a second quicker than the chasing mob, the group that followed was close. Karel Hanika was strong all session, Danny Kent putting on a late charge to challenge Hanika at the end of the session, ending the day just a thousandth behind the Czech rider. Italian Romano Fenati of the Team Sky VR46 squad was another four thousandths behind Kent, and his teammate Pecco Bagnaia was another two hundredths behind Fenati.
Alex Marquez was the first Honda rider, the NSF250RW showing distinct signs of improvement. Marquez ended the day just six tenths behind Miller, with Efren Vazquez and the French prodigy Fabio Quartararo a couple of hundredths behind.
Testing concludes on Thursday.
Times:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev. | In Session |
1 | 8 | Jack Miller | KTM | 1:46.278 | Session 1 | ||
2 | 98 | Karel Hanika | KTM | 1:46.645 | 0.367 | 0.367 | Session 3 |
3 | 52 | Danny Kent | Husqvarna | 1:46.646 | 0.368 | 0.001 | Session 3 |
4 | 5 | Romano Fenati | KTM | 1:46.650 | 0.372 | 0.004 | Session 3 |
5 | 21 | Francesco Bagnaia | KTM | 1:46.674 | 0.396 | 0.024 | Session 1 |
6 | 23 | Niccolo Antonelli | KTM | 1:46.806 | 0.528 | 0.132 | Session 3 |
7 | 12 | Alex Marquez | Honda | 1:46.882 | 0.604 | 0.076 | Session 3 |
8 | 32 | Isaac Viñales | KTM | 1:46.899 | 0.621 | 0.017 | Session 3 |
9 | 7 | Efren Vazquez | Honda | 1:46.899 | 0.621 | 0.000 | Session 2 |
10 | 31 | Niklas Ajo | Husqvarna | 1:46.943 | 0.665 | 0.044 | Session 1 |
11 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Honda | 1:46.965 | 0.687 | 0.022 | Session 1 |
12 | 84 | Jakub Kornfeil | KTM | 1:46.967 | 0.689 | 0.002 | Session 2 |
13 | 58 | Juanfran Guevara | Kalex-KTM | 1:47.049 | 0.771 | 0.082 | Session 3 |
14 | 44 | Miguel Oliveira | Mahindra | 1:47.169 | 0.891 | 0.120 | Session 1 |
15 | 65 | Philipp Oettl | Kalex-KTM | 1:47.174 | 0.896 | 0.005 | Session 3 |
16 | 11 | Livio Loi | Kalex-KTM | 1:47.760 | 1.482 | 0.586 | Session 2 |
17 | 17 | John Mcphee | Honda | 1:47.801 | 1.523 | 0.041 | Session 2 |
18 | 57 | Eric Granado | KTM | 1:47.802 | 1.524 | 0.001 | Session 3 |
19 | 19 | Alessandro Tonucci | Mahindra | 1:47.913 | 1.635 | 0.111 | Session 3 |
20 | 41 | Brad Binder | Mahindra | 1:47.970 | 1.692 | 0.057 | Session 3 |
21 | 61 | Arthur Sissis | Mahindra | 1:47.977 | 1.699 | 0.007 | Session 3 |
22 | 22 | Ana Carrasco | Kalex-KTM | 1:48.155 | 1.877 | 0.178 | Session 2 |
23 | 63 | Zulfahmi Khairuddin | Honda | 1:48.430 | 2.152 | 0.275 | Session 3 |
24 | 38 | Hafiq Azmi | KTM | 1:48.551 | 2.273 | 0.121 | Session 2 |
25 | 9 | Scott Deroue | Kalex-KTM | 1:48.725 | 2.447 | 0.174 | Session 2 |
26 | 3 | Matteo Ferrari | Mahindra | 1:48.831 | 2.553 | 0.106 | Session 2 |
27 | 51 | Bryan Schouten | Mahindra | 1:48.983 | 2.705 | 0.152 | Session 3 |
28 | 43 | Luca Grunwald | Kalex-KTM | 1:49.002 | 2.724 | 0.019 | Session 3 |
29 | 33 | Enea Bastianini | KTM | 1:49.054 | 2.776 | 0.052 | Session 2 |
30 | 4 | Gabriel Ramos | Kalex-KTM | 1:49.234 | 2.956 | 0.180 | Session 1 |
31 | 10 | Alexis Masbou | Honda | 1:49.314 | 3.036 | 0.080 | Session 2 |
32 | 95 | Jules Danilo | Mahindra | 1:49.686 | 3.408 | 0.372 | Session 2 |
33 | 55 | Andrea Locatelli | Mahindra | 1:50.536 | 4.258 | 0.850 | Session 1 |
Comments
ktm vs honda
It's getting a difficult season for honda ! Six honda's against 18 ktm powered bikes and a bunch mahindra's .it looks the new Honda didn't improve much.
Looks like aprilia against honda many jears ago.
just testing
They are still testing. Never underestimate Honda.
Quartararo
Does anyone know whether Quartararo is racing in Moto3 next year with the new Honda, or is he just replacing Rins for this test?
Filling in for Rins
Quartararo is just filling in for Rins at this test. He's too young for Moto3 this year (14, minimum age is 16). But he's on a fast track to MotoGP for sure.
Thanks
I thought that might be the case. Didn't realise he was only 14, don't tend to think of there being an age younger than that of the people racing in Moto3. Feel sorry for anyone in Moto3 having to compete against him in a couple of years.