The first day of private testing at sunny Jerez saw a potpourri of machines, a factory MotoGP, three CRTs and a bevy of Moto2s and one lonely World Superbike team.
Ducati had their test team out on the Spanish track with the addition of 2011 World Superbike champion Carlos Checa lending a helping hand in the development of the GP12.
Mouths were shut tight on lap times and Checa only tweeted “Nice experience, different feelings in sunny Jerez.
” Colin Edwards finally returned to action following the shoulder injury he sustained in the tragic accident at Sepang that claimed the life of Marco Simoncelli (today is a month since he passed away).
Edwards got his first taste of NGM Forward Racing team’s CRT bike that sports a BMW S1000RR engine and a Suter chassis, which is one of more developed CRT bikes.
Edwards posted the fastest lap for the CRT group that saw Ivan Silva on the Inmotec and Yonni Hernandez on the BQR – FTR Kawasaki, but he was still one second slower than Scott Redding who topped the unofficial timesheets for the Moto2 category despite a crash earlier today.
Present were newly signed Forward riders Alex De Angelis and Yuki Takahashi who tested the team’s Suter, while Aspar’s new riders, 125cc World Champion Nico Terol continued his apprenticeship on the 600cc machine as did recently signed Toni Elías, who put in 104 laps trying to adapt his riding style after spending a season on a Honda RC212V MotoGP.
Also on track was Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam with their BMW S1000RR machines.
No official or unofficial lap times for the Superbike team were released, but according to Ian Wheeler, Melandri was a massive two seconds slower than Redding and one tenth of second faster than Leon Haslam, but the two BMW riders seemed pretty satisfied all the same.
Melandri tweeted “First went pretty well, lot of work to do but need step by step, my back is all ready sored.
.
Had so much fun” while Haslam tweeted, “All good today.
Getting through loads of things and lots of meetings to make a plan for tomorrow.
Defo got the weather for it.
”Unofficial times courtesy of MotoGP.
comMotoGPColin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing) 1.
43.
9 (39 laps)Iván Silva (Inmotec) 1.
45.
5 (40 laps)Yonni Hernández (BQR-FTR Kawasaki) 1.
45.
7 (28 laps)Moto2Scott Redding(Marc VDS Racing Team) 1.
42.
9 (52 laps)Pol Espargaró (Pons Racing) 1.
43.
3 (45 laps)Esteve Rabat (Pons Racing) 1.
43.
3 (57 laps)Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) 1.
43.
9 (50 laps)Gino Rea (Gresini Team) 1.
43.
9 (57 laps)Bradley Smith Tech 3) 1.
44.
0 (60 laps)Toni Elías (Aspar Team) 1.
44.
2 (104 laps)Axel Pons (Pons Racing) 1.
44.
7 (50 laps)Alex De Angelis (Forward Racing) 1.
44.
9Yuki Takahashi (Forward Racing) 1.
44.
9 (42 laps)Xavier Simeon (Tech 3) 1.
45.
2 (67 laps)Nico Terol (Aspar Team) 1.
45.
6 (63 laps)
