Moto2 and Moto3 testing wraps in Qatar
T
he last of the pre-season
Moto2 tests ended, March 3,
with the new Triumph-powered
bikes comprehensively smash-
ing records at the Losail Circuit
in Qatar—with experience giving
older riders the upper hand in
the desert, and Kalex chassis
taking control under the flood-
lights.
With the season kicking off in
just one week, English rider Sam
Lowes reinforced his return to
the Gresini team, fastest on day
two and again on the third and
final day, with a time of 1:58.439.
This is better than half a sec-
ond inside the track best, and
all but a full second better than
the 28-year-old's own race lap
record.
This is thanks to the extra
power and especially torque of
the new 765cc three-cylinder
Triumph engines, which have
replaced 600cc four-cylinder
Honda engines after the first
nine years of Moto2, which
replaced the classic 250 class
in 2010.
Lowes "also managed a com-
plete race simulation on the last
day."
He shaded the class veteran
and twice title runner-up Thomas
Luthi, who, at 32, has returned,
joining the Dynavolt Kalex team,
after an abortive year in MotoGP.
The pair headed a phalanx
of nine Kalexes, and a batch of
close times with 19 riders in the
same second.
Remy Gardner (OneXOX SAG
Kalex) was third, less than a
tenth down, then Pons Kalex's
Augusto Fernandez, second
Dynavolt rider Marcel Schrotter,
new EG-VDS rider Xavi Vierge;
before Jorge Navarro slotted the
Speed Up into seventh place.
Two more star Kalex riders
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Sam Lowes was on
song with the Triumph-
powered Kalex, setting
a time faster than the
original MotoGP pole
time when the class
visited the venue in 2004!
