The sun was shining today for day one of the Moto2 official test at Jerez, Spain. The day was broken down into hour sessions giving the Moto2 class three opportunities to get out on the track.
Garage Plus Interwetten Team rider Thomas Luthi dominated all day leading the timing board at the end of each session. The Swiss rider who finished fifth in the 2015 Moto2 Championship was fastest with a time of 1:42.271 after completing 48 laps during today’s session.
British rider Sam Lowes has made a good start with his Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 team finishing 2nd fastest on day one with a time of 1:42.389, just 0.118 behind the leader; Lowes stayed in the top four all day and completed 84 laps on track.
Other riders managed to break the 1:43.00 barrier included Takaaki Nakagami, Alex Rins and 2015 Moto2 Champion Johann Zarco in the second session; Marcel Schrotter and Lorenzo Baldassarri joined them after the third session.
Simone Corse made a great start after his recent move to the Speed Up Team finishing 7th ahead of Zarco who finished 8th overall with the AJO Motorsport Team 0.820 seconds behind leader Luthi. New to Moto2 Dynavolt Intact GP rider Jonas Folger has made a promising start lapping just over a second slower than the leader.
Former Moto3 Champion Danny Kent and his teammate Miguel Oliveira made a great start for Leopard Racing Team who is new to Moto2 this year after expanding their team; Kent lapped faster out of the two with a time of 1:43.517 and his ex-rival now teammate finished 0.103 seconds behind.
Injured Alex Marquez, who recently underwent surgery to insert a screw into his left wrist, did not let his injury stop him from testing and today completed 64 laps at Jerez finishing 20th.
Dunlop, the official tyre of the Moto2 series, today brought a new softer compound rear that may be introduced in Jerez, Le Mans and possibly Motegi if the results are positive over the next two days in Jerez.
