Red Bull KTM Ajo riders finish second day of official tests in 14th and 22nd place, respectively, amidst hot temperatures.

Testing at Jerez continued apace for Red Bull KTM Ajo on Thursday, as they worked with the opening race of the season in mind. The 2017 campaign kicks off in two weeks’ time, and the new Moto2 project has been performing positively to date. High track temperatures featured prominently on day two, preventing the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders in the intermediate class from reducing their times from yesterday. Miguel Oliveira and teammate Brad Binder set the 14th and 22nd best times, respectively, on Thursday.

As planned, Oliveira started out with the first race simulation for the KTM Moto2 machine. His run of 23 consecutive laps were done at a strong pace that provided much satisfaction for the team. Binder used the first session to set his best lap of the day, putting in a time of 1:43.489. It was when the temperature began to fall in the final minutes that Oliveira would complete his top time: 1:43.229.

The third and final day of the test at the Jerez Circuit takes place tomorrow.

Results – Combined Standings Day 2
1. Franco Morbidelli (Kalex) 1:42.301
2. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 1:42.546 +0.245
3. Taakaki Nakagami (Kalex) 1:42.729 +0.428
4. Fabio Quartararo (Kalex) 1:42.844 +0.543
5. Luca Marini (Kalex) 1:42.843 +0.552
14. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:43.229 +0.928
22. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:43.489 +1.188

#41 Brad Binder: “I’m happy with how the day went. We’ve encountered different conditions every day, and that changes a lot of things. You have to look for different lines and adjust to the track conditions, and this makes you work harder. We still need to adjust some things but overall it has gone well. We have tried many things -some worked well and some that have not worked as well, but the overall result is positive. We are taking steps in the right direction and I am satisfied.”

#44 Miguel Oliveira: “We are very happy with the work we have done today. At the end of the first session we saw that the conditions were very close to what we might find in the race, so we took advantage of this to put in many laps, with a very good pace. We have tried small things that went well, but we have not yet found a big change to give us a spectacular improvement. Tomorrow I expect we’ll look for a fast time, and we’ll see what the day brings. Everything will depend on the conditions, since the track temperature has a big influence. We have to push and see what can help us before we head to Qatar.”