Moto2 News - Abraham Fastest In Almeria, Aspar Still Undecided On Chassis

From Valencia, a number of the Moto2 teams made their way further south, for another couple of days testing at Almeria in Spain's far southeast corner. Pons, Viessmann Kiefer, Promoracing (now the Antonio Banderas Racing Team), and Cardion AB all made the trip south to take advantage of the climate in Europe's driest corner.

Times are once again very difficult to interpret, even when available, but for what it's worth, the fastest man at the track was Karel Abraham on the FTR Moto2 bike, some seven tenths quicker than Sergio Gadea on the Pons Racing team's Kalex machine. But here, too, the Moto2 bikes were put into the shade by World Supersport equipment: the Motocard Glaner Kawasaki team was also present at the test, with 2009 surprise package Joan Lascorz setting an extremely respectable lap of 1'37.45 lap, over a second and a half faster than Abraham aboard the FTR bike.

Of course, the disparities in engine performance are still a big factor in the difference between the Moto2 machines and World Supersport bikes, especially as the teams are still awaiting the standard engine to be supplied by Honda. But there is also still work to do on the chassis, however. 2007 World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu rode the Kalex Pons machine at Valencia, and though he only put in about 5 laps on the machine, after getting off he pronounced it as being "like a badly set-up Supersport machine." There is clearly still plenty of work to do.

The bike that Karel Abraham set the fastest time on was the British FTR Moto2 machine, a bike which is rapidly growing in popularity. Abraham was originally slated to be riding an Aprilia-framed bike for the Cardion AB team, but after Aprilia announced their sudden withdrawal from Moto2, the team, along with several others, was left without a chassis. After the test, Abraham pronounced himself impressed with the FTR machine, and the team will be giving the bike serious consideration to replace the Aprilia.

The main victim of Aprilia's withdrawal was the hotly fancied Aspar team run by Jorge 'Aspar' Martinez. The Valencian was due to announce a decision on how the team would be replacing the Aprilia this week, but so far, no statements have been forthcoming. Aspar riders Julian Simon and Mike di Meglio tried the Kalex machine and the FTR bike at Valencia recently, though spending most of that test riding the BQR. Martinez is refusing to be rushed into a decision, however, and is still weighing up the relative merits of the different machines. Nor has he completely ruled out the chance of taking over Aprilia's Moto2 program and buying the Italian factory out.

Whatever Aspar decides to do, Jorge Martinez pointed out that they still have a lot of work to do. The team would still have to work on the height of the bike, the weight balance and on the aerodynamics. "We can't just buy a chassis and go race it," Martinez told the Spanish agency EFE.

Times from the Almeria test courtesy of Bikeracing.it:

Also present were the Antonio Banderas Racing Team, with Kenny Noyes and Joan Olive an Harris bikes, and Scott Redding on a Pons Kalex bike, but no times were issued for those riders.