Photo: Nick Little

Scott Redding topped the Jerez timesheet for the third day in succession, as the final Moto2 test brought the 2011 season to a close.

Redding posted his fastest time on the first day of testing, despite crashing at the ultra-fast turn seven on his first exit from pit lane. The 18-year-old British rider focussed mainly on refining his riding position and machine set-up on the first two days of the test.

“It’s the first time since we took delivery of the new bikes that we’ve had good testing conditions and we certainly made the most of them,” said Redding. “We’ve made some changes to my riding position, as well as making the bike quicker to turn, but I think there’s still more to come in terms of set-up.”

Redding ended the three-day test by completing a 26-lap race simulation, with his average lap time just a few tenths outside of his fastest lap of 1’42.9s.

“Today’s race simulation was really important, because it was the first chance for me to see how the handling is affected once the tyres started to go off. I was quite surprised with the result; there is definitely a drop off, but it’s nowhere near as steep as we experienced in the races this year, and it’s possible to maintain a pretty consistent lap time.”

Redding declared himself happy with the progress made during the three days of testing at Jerez, before heading off to start the long winter break.

“Overall, I’m really pleased with how things have gone here at Jerez and it’s always good to leave a test as the fastest rider on track! Right now I’m looking forward to the winter break, but I know I’ll be itching to get back on track in a matter of days!”

Combined Times*

1. Scott Redding - 1’42.9
2. Pol Espargaro - 1’43.0
3. Bradley Smith - 1’43.1
4. Esteve Rabat - 1’43.3
5. Mika Kallio - 1’43.4
6. Gino Rea - 1’43.8
7. Xavier Simeon - 1’43.9 
8. Alex De Angelis - 1’44.0
9. Yuki Takahashi - 1’44.2
10. Toni Elias - 1’44.2
11. Nico Terol - 1’44.7
12. Axel Pons - 1’44.7 

*All times unofficial

Gino Rea has informed me that he did 1’43.1 today, making him joint third fastest at the Jerez test.