Tests limited for Moto2 in Qatar: maximum 37 laps per day

Three days of testing for Moto2 in Losail began today, but only four riders took to the track in the first morning session. It is true that the track conditions at that time are very different from those that the riders will encounter in the practice sessions and in the races on the weekends of the two GPs, but no one could have imagined that the riders would desert the session in droves.

In truth, the cause is not due to a lack of desire by the riders and teams, but to information received by the teams asking them not to exceed 600 kilometres in the three days of testing. Calculator in hand, that means they can run approximately 37 laps a day, or better still 111 for all tests.

This is because each Moto2 rider has only one engine with which to test and do the two races, so a distance per event of 600 km is calculated, therefore 1,800 total between tests and races. So that’s how you get to a total of 111 laps which, of course, each team can decide to use as they want, even if everyone will probably decide to spread them over the three days.

The result is that the riders will be able to lap very little, considering that it is also necessary to count the out laps from the pits and the in laps. Not exactly ideal for an official test and it is even worse for the rookies, who are the ones who most need to spend time on the bike. However, even the teams are not particularly enthusiastic about not being able to make the most of these three days on the track after having borne the (high) costs of a long trip to Qatar.

Dorna, however, has decided ubi maior minor cessat (in the presence of something more important, something less important loses its  relevance), i.e. better to do fewer laps….