Moto2: Marquez tops first official test

Published: 10 March 2017 Updated: 10 March 2017

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Alex Marquez has held off teammate Franco Morbidelli in Moto2’s first official preseason test at Jerez to make it an EG0,0 Marc VDS double act at the top of the timesheets after three days of action at the Spanish circuit.

Marquez took advantage of the usual cooler winter weather at the southern circuit to go well under the circuit lap record, finishing with a 1:41.989 lap time, just ahead of Morbidelli’s 1:42.103.

“I’m happy with what we’ve achieved here in Jerez over the last three days, despite having to sit out the final session today because I was sick, which meant missing out on the race simulation. Even so, I feel really good on the bike, my confidence was increasing with every exit and I posted my best ever lap at Jerez to finish at the top of the timesheet. Now I need to recover for Qatar, where we need to continue pushing to be ready for the first race of the new season.”

Miguel Oliveira was perhaps the star performer of the test, however, taking KTM’s new Moto2 project to third overall in its first ever official test, only 0.2 adrift of the Kalex of Morbidelli.

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Dominique Aegerter made it three manufacturers in the top four for the first time in a long time in fourth on the Kiefer Racing Suter, while Jorge Navarro, Mattia Pasini, Takaaki Nakagami and Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top ten.

Former Moto3 world champion Danny Kent, the only British rider remaining in Moto2 after Sam Lowes’ move up to MotoGP, finished in twelfth on the second Kiefer Suter machine.

With testing completed in Spain, the class now moves on to the seat of the first round, following up MotoGP’s test this weekend at Losail with their own test next week at the Qatari circuit.

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By Simon Patterson

MotoGP and road racing reporter, photographer, videographer