Tech 3 boss confident in Moto2 line-up

Tech 3 Moto2 boss Herve Poncharal believes Yuki Takahashi and Raffaele de Rosa will be strong contenders for victories in the new 600cc four-stroke world championship in 2010.

The pair completed a short but successful one-day test session at the Valencia circuit in Spain this week after rain prevented any action for the opening two scheduled days.

And French team boss Poncharal is delighted to see his new outfit gelling so well, and he told MCN: “I think we have a really good team because I think they will really push each other.

“They are exchanging a lot of information and talking a lot to each other about the bike. I think both of them have the capability to win races this year.

“They will push each other during the races but they will work together to develop the bike and this is what we need.”

Poncharal singled out Japanese rider Takahashi for special praise too after his impressive start in the French-based team.

Takahashi ended the Valencia test 0.9s faster than Italian de Rosa, who was top 250GP rookie in 2009.

Poncharal added: “Yuki has been a dream and he reminds me a lot of when Shinya Nakano started racing.

“And on top of that he is an incredibly good development rider and he can say so much about what is happening on the bike.

“You can tell he has a lot of four-stroke experience and I think he has done a lot of testing for Honda that perhaps we don’t know about.

“He is a hard worker and a good communicator and I’m sure he’ll be a real asset to the team.

“We know all about Raffaele’s potential from last year and I’m sure he is going to be a big challenger this season.”