Test Report

The second official Moto2 & 125cc pre-season test ended at the Jerez circuit on Monday, and Toni Elías and Marc Márquez set the fastest time in each respective category.

With wet weather conditions affecting the first and final days on Saturday and Monday, day two on Sunday proved to be the most fruitful and it was then that the riders from both the Moto2 and 125cc classes produced the best lap times of the weekend.

The second test with the official Honda engines to be used in the inaugural Moto2 season in 2010 allowed the intermediate class riders to continue their adaptation to the 600cc machines, and with the top nine all within a second of one another the competitive nature of the new class was apparent. Gresini Racing rider Toni Elías was the fastest of the three days with a time of 1'45.024.

Colombian Yonny Hernández (Blusens STX) continues to impress and at fractionally over half a second behind Elías was second on the overall timesheet, with American Kenny Noyes of the Jack&Jones by Antonio Banderas team showing his ability in third, at a gap of 0.176s to Hernández.

Alex de Angelis (Scot Racing) displayed his adeptness at riding in the wet by topping the timesheets on Saturday and Monday, and was fourth overall after his best time from Sunday placed him just over seven-tenths of a second off former team-mate Elías.

The Forward Racing pairing of Jules Cluzel and Claudio Corti were a close fifth and sixth respectively, and Interwetten Moriwaki rider Thomas Lüthi was just 0.013s off the Italian rider's time. Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans STR), returning from injury, Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP) and Mapfre Aspar rider Julián Simón (who was the fastest of the first test at Valencia last week) completed the top ten on the timesheet, with these times registered in dry conditions in Sunday's early session.

It was a similar situation with the 125cc riders as the best times from the eighth-litre class were all recorded on Sunday. Marc Márquez, the fastest rider at Valencia, was again top of the timesheets in 1'47.473. The Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider was followed by Bainet Derbi duo Pol Espargaró (0.284s behind) and Efrén Vázquez, who was just over a full second off Márquez's time. Bancaja Aspar team-mates Nicolas Terol and Bradley Smith occupied fourth and fifth on the timesheet respectively.

Another British rider in Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) was sixth fastest, with Esteve Rabat (Blusens STX), Alberto Moncayo (Andalucia Cajasol), Randy Krummenacher (Molenaar Racing) and Sandro Cortese (Avant Intact Ajo Motorsport) all posting top-ten times.

The third and final official pre-season Moto2/125cc test is scheduled for March 27-29, again at Jerez.