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DANNY KENT FASTEST KTM RIDER IN MOTO3 TESTS AT JEREZ

published at 18.02.2012

Riders of the new KTM Moto3 bike and the KALEX-KTM have now completed the second three days of official tests this time on the Jerez circuit in Spain and Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent topped the leader board on all three days.

Other riders on the KTM Moto3 bike and the KALEX-KTM dominated the top ten of times reported by the individual teams.

Riding in near perfect conditions on the final day, Kent dominated the timesheet registering a lap time of 1’47.1, four tenths ahead of Avintia Racing rider Maverick Viñales, considered one of the favorites for the new Moto3 class.

Speaking after day two, the young British rider said that everything was going well at Jerez and he was registering faster lap times than on the 125 cc machine he raced last year in the final season of the class. “I am feeling confident and everything is going well. Today we also managed to do a race simulation and each lap we’re learning something new.”

Kent’s teammate Sandro Cortese, who was fastest in the last round of tests in Valencia was also up among the leaders on each day. He crashed on Friday but was back in action and according to team boss Aki Ajo was steadily improving by the end of the final day on Saturday. “It sometimes happen that you crash in tests when you’re trying to go fast but I have a good feeling. We’re always up with the top guys,” Cortese said.

Ajo also said his third rider, Australian Arthur Sissis, who finished second overall in the 2011 Red Bull Rookies MotoGP Cup have ‘improved a lot’. He’s up with the top ten now, he said.

Again prominent among the fastest riders were the two Aspar Team Moto3 riders Alberto Moncayo and Hector Faubel, both of Spain and who ride the KTM-powered KALEX machine while other KTM riders were also prominent in the top ten fastest on the Spanish circuit.

Aki Ajo: “Jerez is a very different track than Valencia but we could see here that it was one that suits Danny Kent. Of course with a different track there are different problems, that’s normal. But we have no big problems and we have to be happy that the engines are working well so we are mainly working on the settings. There’s now a lot of hard work for the team and the KTM Racing Department to prepare for the next tests in three weeks and of course for the start of the season."

Alex Baumgärtel of KALEX-KTM also described the tests as promising and said they were ‘in the ball park’ as far as preparations were going. “We lost a little time yesterday when Luis Salom (RW Racing – KALEX-KTM) crashed and also with Moncayo’s crash. They were not injured but it just set us back a little with our preparations. But we had almost perfect conditions on the final day and at 2:00 p.m. the tarmac temperature was up to 30 degrees and that was good for us. We know we can improve more as we work towards the next tests in Jerez.”

Unofficial Moto3 lap times Thursday (recorded by teams)
1. Danny Kent (GB), Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM, 1’48.4
2. Alberto Moncayo (E), Bankia Aspar Team – KALEX-KTM, 1’48.7
3. Sandro Cortese (D), Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM, 1’49.2
4. Miguel Oliveira (P), Monlau Competición, 1’49.2
5. Héctor Faubel (E), Bankia Aspar Team – KALEX-KTM, 1’49.8
6. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (MA), AirAsia-SIC-Ajo – KTM, 1’49.5
7. Niklas Ajo (FIN), TT Motion Events Racing – KTM, 1’50.4

Unofficial Moto3 lap times Friday (recorded by teams)
1. Danny Kent (GB), (Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM, 1’47.5
2. Maverick Viñales (E), Avintia Racing, 1’47.0
3. Héctor Faubel (E), Bankia Aspar Team – KALEX-KTM, 1’48.1
4. Sandro Cortese (D), Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM, 1’48.3
5. Miguel Oliveira (P), Monlau Competición, 1’48.9
6. Alberto Moncayo (E), Bankia Aspar Team – KALEX-KTM, 1’49.0
7. Niklas Ajo (FIN), TT Motion Events Racing – KTM, 1’49.5
8. Arthur Sissis (AUS), Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM, 1’50.1

Unofficial Moto3 lap times for Saturday (recorded by teams)
1. Danny Kent (GB), Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM, 1'47.1
2. Maverick Viñales (E), Avintia Racing, 1'47.5
3. Alberto Moncayo (E), Bankia Aspar Team – KALEX-KTM, 1'47.9
4. Sandro Cortese (D), Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM, 1'48.0
5. Héctor Faubel (E), Bankia Aspar Team – KALEX-KTM, 1'48.4
6. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (MA), AirAsia-SIC-Ajo – KTM, 1'48.4
7. Luís Salom (E), RW Racing GP – KALEX-KTM, 1'48.5
10. Arthur Sissis (AUS), Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM, 1'50.1
13. Niklas Ajo (FIN), (TT Motion Events Racing – KTM, 1'49.4