The Red Bull KTM Ajo riders complete their first days of track time among the Top 10, amidst very low temperatures.

This Thursday saw the conclusion of the first official tests of the 2018 preseason in Valencia. Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder completed their second day of testing, improving on the times set yesterday despite the low temperatures that have affected the entire week. On the combined timesheet for the two days, the Portuguese achieved the fourth fastest time, with the South African in tenth place.

The 3ºC track temperature in the first hour of the morning session made it unviable for the riders to go out. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders were able to get on their KTM machines in the second and third sessions, however. Miguel Oliveira set the same laptime in both sessions -1:36.1- after completing a total of 55 laps. Brad Binder achieved his best lap time of 1:36.881 -56 laps- in the second session, and like his teammate, dedicated time to getting comfortable onboard his KTM and starting to try out small setup adjustments.

Next week, from February 12th to 14th, the Red Bull KTM Ajo will be at the Jerez Circuit in search of better weather conditions and more track time. 

Combined Standings Day 1-2-3
1. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 1:35.779
2. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 1:35.795 +0.016
3. Simone Corsi (Kalex) 1:35.915 +0.136
4. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:36.146 +0.367
5. Isaac Viñales (Kalex) 1:36.212 +0.433
10. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:36.729 +0.950 

#41 Brad Binder
“This last day in Valencia has been fairly good. Lap after lap I was feeling more comfortable and this is because I felt rusty after so much time off the bike. It hasn’t gone badly, but we still have a lot to improve. The most important thing is to keep upping the pace every time we go out on track. We have tried some small setup changes that have given us all kinds of results. It’s time to try them again in Jerez and draw conclusions.” 

 

#44 Miguel Oliveira
“This second day has been positive, as we were able to complete more laps than yesterday. Even so, it was cold. The objective of these tests is not to take risks to look for first position but to do the work we had planned before starting. Today we tried to adapt the bike to the conditions that we encountered and we achieved that. We’ve had two satisfactory days. We hope to be able to get more out of our visit to Jerez than from these days in Valencia.”