Grand Prix winners Bradley Smith and Scott Redding head the British charge to Valencia in Spain for the first official Moto2™ test session of the season on Wednesday. They will be joined in the ultra competitive Moto2™ class by Gino Rea.
It will be the first ride of the season for both Smith, who won the 2010 125 cc grand prix in Valencia and 19 year old Redding. It will also be the first official test session for the Moto3™ class which replaces the 125 cc World Championship. Both Danny Webb and Danny Kent will be there to test the new 250 cc four-stroke single cylinder machines.
Twenty-one year old Smith can’t wait to get started after taking three podium finishes and finishing seventh in his maiden Moto 2 season last year.
“I’ve been training in California and can’t wait to get back on the bike,” explained the Tech 3 rider.” That first grand prix in Qatar is just two months away and so we have a very busy testing schedule. I will probably start on the bike that I rode in the Jerez test at the end of last season because I will be a little bit rusty and need a day to get it out of the system. It’s not a race at the moment and it’s important not to try too hard and be a test rider for at the least the next three days.”
Redding is as equally excited about getting back on the track.
“We need to be on the pace for the first practice in Qatar and so these pre-season tests are vital,” said the Marc VDS rider. “The advantage we have this year is we know the Kalex frame is good. Now we need to focus on refining the set-up and confirming and re-confirming any changes we make. If we do that in testing I’m confident we can fight at the front from that very first race.”
The former 125 cc World Champion Marc Marquez who finished runner-up in last year’s Moto2 World Championship will miss the test. He is recovering from an operation to cure double vision problems sustained in his crash in Malaysia last October.
Kent- based Danny Webb returns to Valencia, on the Indian Mahindra Moto3 machine, where he took the last ever125 cc pole position last year. Teenager Danny Kent had a very impressive first full season of grand prix racing last year and returns on the Red Bull KTM AJO in the Moto3 class.
After the three day Valencia test the Moto2 and Moto 3 teams travel further south for a three test at Jerez which starts on February 16.