RED BULL KTM AJO RIDERS COMPLETE FIRST IRTA TESTS IN VALENCIA

2015-02-12 16:42
Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 riders were in action this week on the Valencia circuit for the first official pre-season tests for the 2015 World Championship but action was hampered by weather conditions at the Spanish circuit.

New signing Miguel Oliveira of Portugal was the fastest of the three factory riders setting a lap time of 1:39.805 to be fifth overall, some 0.413 off the winning pace. Karel Hanika was eighth fastest with 1:39.982 and teammate Brad Binder was eleventh fastest with 1:40.221. All three riders set their best time in the third session of the opening day on Tuesday. There was very little track action on the other two days because of the weather conditions.

All three riders were satisfied with having had a positive first day but were disappointed that both rain, and on Thursday an oil spill on the circuit meant they were not able to complete their planned activities. They now got to Jerez for the second round of the official pre-season tests next week.

Oliveira said he was taking away “very positive feelings” from the first day. “We have to go to Jerez and focus on working with the bike and trying to understand it as much as possible,” he added.

Hanika, the Czech rider who is about to start his second season with the team said he was happy because they had improved a lot. “We tested different setups and lap after lap we’ve been getting better and I feel more confident. The most important thing is that we set good times with new tyres and were consistent,” he said.

Binder, of South Africa, like Oliveira new to the Red Bull KTM Ajo garage, said the first day had been positive. “I think we are going in the right direction. Today I had hoped we would have a dry track and better weather, but it ended up raining all day. This morning I put in a few laps to see how I felt in rainy conditions, and I really enjoyed it.” He said the team will now analyze things like the geometry of the bike and work on getting the setting right.

Team Manager Aki Ajo said although the conditions were not favorable it was necessary to be positive. “We were able to ride on Tuesday, put in a lot of laps. We kept learning and continued setting up the new bike. We also kept the entire team working with the new riders, which is always important. Tuesday was a very positive day and the riders were very consistent, although we did not put on a soft tire to try to set any spectacular laps. They are very happy with the new bike and the feeling is very positive.”

KTM riders are competing on the 2015 KTM RC250GP machine.

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Moto3 Pre Season Tests at Valencia
Results

1. Fabio Quartararo, FRA, Honda 1:39.392
2, Danny Kent, GBR, Honda 1:39.415
3, Enea Bastianini, ITA, Honda 1:39.669
4, Niccolo Antonelli, ITA, Honda, 1:39.784
5, Miguel Oliveira, POR, KTM, 1:39.805
7, Karel Hanika, CZE, KTM1:39.982
8, Romano Fenati, ITA, KTM, 1:40.017
11. Brad Binder, RSA, KTM 1:40.221

Other KTM
15, Andrea Migno, ITA, KTM 1:40.427
21, Niklas Ajo, FIN, KTM 1:40.806
23, Philipp Oettl, GER, KTM 1:40.985

Second official IRTA pre-season tests at Jerez next week

More at www.motogp.com

Source: KTM

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