The third and last day of testing for the IRTA 250cc tests at the Jerez track closed positively for the JiR Team Scot squad with strong signal that rider Yuki Takahashi is moving forward and showing increased potential for the coming season. Despite only creating a general set-up on his Honda RS250RW the performance of the Japanese rider took full advantage of today’s improved weather and shows that his efforts and the team’s work is heading in the right direction.
JiR Team Scot now leave Spain and head to Qatar with the motivation to improve still further in the final test of the year before the first race on March 9th.
Yutaka Hirano – Chief Technician
“Today we closed the test satisfactorily with the work we have done with Yuki. The goal of the tests was to take bring back a good feeling with the bike for Yuki without any expectations from the stopwatch after three months off because of injury. Instead, Yuki has surprised us, as today as soon as the sun was shining he immediately went faster still and both he and the team are now very satisfied. We still have work to do to change a little Yuki’s riding style, so he can exploit better the performance of his Honda RS250RW and perhaps he need not be so aggressive on the bike. We did only a little modification on the suspension settings today from what Yuki used last season, but we’re all happy with our progress. Fortunately we now go to Qatar for three days and we will use the time to move forward once more.”
Yuki Takahashi – Rider
“Finally we have had a sunny day, which I have exploited to the full! I didn’t work on suspension settings so much or try lots of tyres, instead I worked hard on my riding style and I can say that we’re getting very close now to the good feeling I had last season. My performance isn’t so far from the top of the timing sheets – which is positive – and I’m sure that it’s now possible to move forward from here. My bike has very good handling in certain parts of the track and we are moving forward in little steps but importantly in the right direction. I’m now off to Qatar with a positive feeling and plenty of motivation for the final test of the year!”
Test Jerez 250GP – Day 3
1. Thomas Luthi - Aprilia -1’43”208
2. Marco Simoncelli - Gilera - 1’43”209
3. Alvaro Bautista - Aprilia - 1’43”601
4. Julian Simon - KTM - 1’43”802
5. Mika Kallio - KTM - 1’43”859
8. Yuki Takahashi - Honda - 1’44”333
