Scott Redding continues to dominate Valencia Moto2 test

Scott Redding’s brilliant start to the 2012 Moto2 winter testing campaign continued at a chilly Valencia yesterday.

Having set the pace on the opening day with a lap of 1.36.5, the Kalex rider impressed again on the second day to lower his pace to a 1.35.6.

That kept him on top of the timesheets by 0.2s with Italian Andrea Iannone improving into second with a 1.35.8.

The 19-year-old Marc VDS Racing rider told MCN: “This was another really positive day for us and I’m really happy with how the bike has been working. I’m adapting to the Kalex chassis really well and each day I feel stronger and more comfortable.

Conditions were a little bit warmer than the first day and that gave me a good feeling and I am really pleased with how everything is going. We couldn’t have wished to have made a better start.”

Fellow British rider Bradley Smith also made big improvements on the second day to climb from 14th to sixth on the all-new Tech 3 Racing Mistral 610 machine.

The 21-year-old improved his pace from1.38.8 to a 1.36.5 in his 52-lap stint and he told MCN: “Today was much better and in the first session I felt really good. As the day went on we were able to make changes to the bike because I felt better although we didn’t change too much.

“Most of the time we were working on the rear suspension to try and find grip because although the temperature was higher the grip was still quite low.”

After a frustrating first day where he was forced to sit on the sidelines throughout with an engine fault, Gino Rea finally got chance to kick off his 2012 preparations.

He ran 50-laps to clock a best time of 1.37.8 to finish 17th fastest and he told MCN: “Today was a lot better because at least we got out on track. We got quite a lot of laps in and we made a lot of changes because the Moriwaki chassis is completely new.

“I was playing catch-up after missing the first day but I think considering that we caught up quite well, though we still have a lot of places where we can improve. At the moment we are just trying to find a good base setting with the new chassis but the feeling is pretty positive.”