Moto3: Honda Dominate Testing Top 10 With Round Two on the Horizon

This weekend the 2020 Moto3 World Championship returns to action at Jerez, after the lightweight class of grand prix racing’s forced lay-off due to coronavirus.

Round one in Qatar saw Albert Arenas come out on top in a last lap battle with John McPhee, meaning they now sit 1-2 in the championship Ai Ogura behind them in third. 

Things have gotten off to a good start for McPhee in Jerez, also. The Scotsman was fastest overall in the pre-race Jerez test held on the Wednesday before the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix, and it was over three tenths of a second back to second place. 

That second palace was occupied by Raul Fernandez, whose Red Bull KTM Ajo debut did not go entirely to plan with the Spaniard finishing only tenth, but his speed looks to have recovered in Jerez, one of the few circuits on the calendar where individual speed can actually make a difference as the straights are not long enough for the slipstream to hold a group of 15 or 20 riders together for a whole GP distance. 

Things were not looking good for Leopard Racing for most of the weekend in Qatar, but Jaume Masia managed to fight for the podium in the end, although he just missed out in the end, taking fourth place. Masia is expected to fight for the title this season, and starting the year with a solid top six is a good way to start that championship assault. He does need to get on the podium, however, and third in the combined test times on Wednesday indicate his intentions with regards to the rostrum.

One of the surprise names to arrive near the sharp end of the testing leaderboard was Filip Salac, who showed moments of speed in 2019 with PruestelGP, but especially impressed in Qatar back in March when he finished eighth.

Romano Fenati had a woeful debut for the Sterilgarda Max Racing Team Husqvarna squad in Qatar, finishing only 17th. But the fiery Italian looks back to more familiar form in Jerez, finishing the test sixth overall. It was Jerez where Fenati took his first GP win back in 2012, and after such a difficult start, his championship ambitions rely on a strong points haul this weekend. 

Niccolo Antonelli was one rider to benefit from the enforced break in racing, as it allowed time for him to recover from yet another broken collarbone. The Italian still needs to figure out how to keep himself healthy and his butt patch off the asphalt, but in the test he showed good speed once again, finishing seventh overall. 

Behind Antonelli in the combined times in the Jerez test were Gabriel Rodrigo, Dennis Foggia and Tony Arbolino, who completed the top ten. Again, these are three rider who will be expecting to fight for the championship in 2020, and after each respectively missing the podium in Qatar, that will be their primary aim this weekend in Jerez. 

The Sky Racing Team VR46 duo of Andrea Migno and Celestino Vietti could only manage 12th and 13th respectively in the combined times, and whilst this might be a worry for Migno, Vietti will be content with this knowing his strongest moment is usually Sunday – nonetheless the pair would have probably expected to be in the top ten in the test. 

The same could be said for Ai Ogura who took third place in Qatar but could only manage 17th in the test. 

Notably, there were eight Hondas, one KTM and one Husqvarna (or two KTMs) in the top ten in the combined test times. This is similar to the top ten in the Qatar race, which was bookended by the KTMs of race winner Arenas and tenth-placed Fernandez. Whether this is a theme that will follow the season remains to be seen, but the contrast in track characteristics between Losail and Jerez could barely be more stark. It looks like the advantage is Honda’s.

Finally, a note on Sergio Garcia, who will miss the first half of free practice one on Friday morning for training with a bike that did not comply with the regulations for training bikes. It is the same penalty given to Fabio Quartararo in MotoGP for the same offence, and like Quartararo, Garcia is somewhat fortunate that he picks this penalty up on the weekend where there are three hours of testing before the race weekend starts.