Mahindra Pull&Bear Aspar riders kick off official Moto3 test at Jerez

With the opening round of the Moto3 World Championship just around the corner, the teams and riders were at Jerez today for the first of two official tests that will complete the 2017 preseason schedule. A total of 31 competitors were on track, with Aron Canet the fastest of them with a lap of 1'46.465. The top three was completed by Romano Fenati, back in style after missing the second half of last season, and Jorge Martín. The test continues on Thursday and Friday, with three daily sessions for the Moto3 riders before they head to Qatar for the final test next week.
Mahindra Pull&Bear Aspar riders Albert Arenas and Lorenzo dalla Porta were able to continue working at Jerez on the programme they established in a private test there next week. The pair made a cautious start as they got their feeling back on their Mahindras and continued with their adaptation to the bike. Arenas rode along as he focused on building his race pace, setting a series of laps within the same half second. Meanwhile Lorenzo dalla Porta and his crew tried a series of changes that didn't bear fruit, so they will return to their original set-up before continuing to work towards Qatar.

15^th Albert Arenas 1:47.716 (55 laps):“The balance of the first day is good. I was looking forward to getting out on track with all the other riders. We have a good plan for this test, taking small steps forward along the same lines we established last week and continuing to improve little by little. It is hard because everything is very close but we try to keep riding alone and setting as many laps as possible close to our best time.”
27^th Lorenzo Dalla Porta 1:49.021 (58 laps): “This first day of testing has been quite difficult. We tried lots of things on the used tyre and we thought that these changes would be a step forward for the race set-up but then when we put the new tyre in we could see they were worse. Tomorrow we will go back to what we had last week and start again from there. It is important to test these things now to make sure we are on the right lines for Qatar”.