Luis Salom, Zulfahmi Khairuddin and Arthur Sissis return to action on their KTM machines at Jerez, in final preseason test of 2013.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s three riders were on track this Monday in the first of four days of testing at the Circuito de Jerez. The Moto3 and Moto2 field were riding at the Spanish track for the second time this year, in what is the final test of the preseason. This opening day also saw the team debuting their colour scheme for 2013.

One month on from their last visit to Jerez, the Moto3 riders began to put the finishing touches to their preparations today. The action began at midday in a session exclusive to Moto3.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo riders made the most of the pleasant weather, right from the first stint on track. Luis Salom clocked a 1’49.169 lap time in the opening session, putting him fourth on the timesheet despite his suffering from fever. Teammates Arthur Sissis and Zulfahmi Khairuddin used the first run to recover their feeling for their bikes and prepare the machines for the second session.
In the combined Moto3 and Moto2 afternoon outing, Salom continued to dice amongst the top five. He eventually placed fourth with a best lap of 1’47.457. Sissis and Khairuddin put in 50 and 47 laps, respectively, as the riders with the most kilometres on the clock on Monday. Both stopped the clock with 1’48.5 lap times.

Testing continues tomorrow at the Circuito de Jerez, and will go on through Thursday.

Luis Salom >> Audio
“Despite having fever and feeling ill for the past two days, that didn’t go too badly. I got a good time on the final lap, which put the three KTM riders in the 1’47.4s. I am happy with our work today. We tried out some different things and made some changes. We hope that tomorrow we can improve our times and also if I can get better. I’ve been feeling rough, with my whole body aching, so it was a hard time out there.”

Arthur Sissis >> Audio
“I am happy, because things went better than at the last test. I felt good and the bike was a lot better. We tried out various things with the setup and I was able to ride a lot of laps. At the end of the day, the results were positive. We have to carry on working hard at this test to get quicker on the two or three fast corners, which are where we are losing time. If we can do that, then it would complete a good test.”

Zulfahmi Khairuddin >> Audio // Audio (Malaysian)
“The asphalt was a little slippery in the first session, but in the end we found a very good setting. Compared with the previous Jerez test, we are much faster and more comfortable. Each lap saw us put in a good time. I think that we can improve even more tomorrow, because we know where we lost time today. I hope that our best times can get better and that we can up our race pace.”