Barcelona, Spain – 17 June 2014: The Marc VDS Racing Team’s Moto2 riders, Tito Rabat and Mika Kallio, today completed a successful one-day test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Rabat, who took his fourth win of the season at the circuit on Sunday, today focussed on working with his crew to further refine the set up of his Kalex Moto2 machine ahead of the next race in Assen.

Kallio also worked on set up over the course of the day, in a bid to improve the consistency of his lap times over full race distance. The 31-year-old Finn completed four race simulations in total, posting his fastest time on the final lap of the final run.

The two Marc VDS riders will return to action in just over a week at Assen, known as the Cathedral of Speed and the venue for round eight of the 2014 Moto2 World Championship.

Tito Rabat:
“Today we tested many things on the bike, with positive results. The changes weren’t big, but we did find a number of small improvements in a few areas and, in Moto2 where the bikes are so similar, even a slight advantage can make a big difference when it comes to racing for the win. I also enjoyed riding the bike at Montmeló without the pressure you get during a race weekend. I’m happy with what we achieved during today’s test and I’m now looking forward to the next race in Assen.”

Mika Kallio:
“The test today was quite positive. We found an improvement with the bike, mainly with the front and the rear grip, which allowed a faster, more consistent pace during the race simulations. However, it was a little disappointing that the improvements came today and not during the race weekend as, with today’s set up the race result would have been different. The same was also true at Mugello, where, again, we found the best set up during the post race test. In the future we maybe need to take bigger steps with the set up when we’re struggling during a race weekend; take more of a risk rather than trying to fix the problems with only small changes. Now we need to see what happens when we go to Assen, as we will start with the same set up there.”

Naoya Kaneko: Chief Mechanic, Mika Kallio
“Today’s test was very informative for us. Our focus was on finding a set up that would allow Mika to be more consistent over full race distance. We did four race simulations, making changes between each one based on the lap times, the data and Mika’s feedback. On the last lap of the last run Mika managed to improve his time by half-a-second, which is very positive. Looking at the data, the lap time came as a result of small improvements in a number of areas, rather than from a single change, and now we need to replicate these improvements in Assen and at future races.”