All three Marc VDS riders declared themselves satisfied with the progress made during the second preseason test of 2013 at Jerez, despite rain disrupting all but one day of the three tests days.

Scott Redding ended the test third on the Moto2 timesheet, just 0.5s off the fastest time set by last year’s championship runner up, Pol Espargaro. The Marc VDS rider was also fifth fastest in the rain of the opening day, after rediscovering his wet weather form aboard the 2013 Kalex.

Mika Kallio was initially fast in the wet conditions on the opening day, but dropped to seventh position after encountering problems with the Dunlop wet tyres. In the dry the 30-year-old Finn was also seventh fastest, running a different set-up to normal on the bike, but was unhappy that the gap to the top of the timesheet was more than one second.

Livio Loi quickly mastered the tricky conditions on the two wet days at Jerez, running top five until a crash – at turn three on Tuesday and turn two on Thursday – brought a premature end to both days. The 15-year-old Belgian slipped back to 21st on the timesheet while working to refine the set-up of his Kalex-KTM machine in the dry conditions of the second day.

The Marc VDS Racing Team will return to the Jerez circuit on 22nd March, for the third and final preseason test of 2013.

Scott Redding #45: 3rd – 1'42.849
“We had some problems in the wet last year, so it was great to jump on the bike the first day in the rain and instantly have a good feeling. The same was true in the dry the second day; the bike just felt right from the first pit exit. We tried quite a few things on the bike, to improve it in a couple of areas, including getting the bike to turn better. Overall it’s been a very positive three days, despite the dodgy weather, and I’m looking forward to coming back to Jerez for the final test next month.”

Mika Kallio #36: 7th – 1'43.509
“My first exit on wets on Tuesday was good, but as soon as we changed tyres I couldn’t get within two seconds of my own lap time. The same was true today; I just didn’t have the grip to go any faster in the wet. We need to figure out what the problem is, because I have no confidence with the wet tyres at the moment. We had a good base set-up for this track last year, but it didn’t work as well at other tracks. For this test we went a completely different way with the settings, but we simply didn’t get enough dry track time to confirm the changes. We will go to Albacete for two more days of testing, where we’ll decide on a direction with the settings before returning to Jerez in March.”

Livio Loi #11: 21st – 1'49.576
“The first day was very good, I was all the time third or fourth, but then I had a little crash. Overall I was happy with day one. In the dry on the second day we had some problems with set-up, but we managed to improve both the bike and my lap time each session, so not the best day but it was okay. Today the first free practice was good and I was running fourth. In the second session I don’t know what happened, but I lost the front into turn two. The track was drying and I didn’t do anything different, so I don’t really know why I crashed. Anyway, overall it’s been a good test and now I head to Le Mans to get more time on the bike.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“Both Scott and Mika had a lot to test on the only dry day here at Jerez, so neither were really pushing for fast lap times. Even so they were both on the pace in the wet and in the dry. I’m confident that when we return in March, with nothing left to test on the bikes, they’ll both be a lot closer to the top of the timesheet. Livio had a good first day, but struggled a little with set-up in the dry. While he’s unhappy not to be closer to the frontrunners, he learnt a lot during this test and, as a rookie, this is more important to his future than a few fast laps on a bike that isn’t set-up properly. He will get more experience testing at Le Mans next month, before returning to Jerez for the final preseason test.”