French rider sets the pace on first day of opening Moto2 Official Test in Valencia.

The 2014 season came to a close at the Comunitat Valenciana Circuit in November. This Tuesday the 2015 preseason kicked off at the same venue for the  Moto2 and Moto3 riders. In the intermediate category, Johann Zarco made an excellent start, dominating the second and third sessions of the day and setting the fastest lap: 1:34.754.

Zarco showed his rapid adaptation to the Kalex in every runout, lowering his lap times in each of the three hour-long sessions provided exclusively for the intermediate category riders. A great pace and a great feeling on the bike allowed the Frenchman to start the day with the second fastest time and lead the remaining two outings. His best lap of 1:34.754 was below the circuit record, but Zarco is more focused on the development of his bike than the stopwatch at present.

Tomorrow the Moto2 riders will be the first out on track, from 10am in the morning. This will be the second of three scheduled testing days at the Spanish circuit this week.

Results – Combined Sessions Day 1
1. Johann Zarco (Kalex) 1:34.754
2. Sam Lowes (Speed Up) 1:35.106 +0.352
3. Tito Rabat (Kalex) 1:35.145 +0.391
4. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 1:35.194 +0.440
5. Xavier Simeon (Kalex) 1:35.264 +0.510

#5 Johann Zarco
“Today I went faster than in the November test, so we’ve done a great job. The conditions were not the best so we were very careful whenever we went out on track. Still, we focused on our work and the times we set were very good. We have to keep working hard. Now we will analyse the data to see what we can improve on the bike, but I’m very happy with how we did today. I think it was the best day of the three that we will have here, because on the other days it might rain. Currently it is cold but there is no wind, which would complicate the conditions. Today the main thing was to maintain a good pace and a good feeling on the bike, and I think we achieved that goal.”