Caterham Moto Racing – Almeria Test Day One

Circuito de Almeria, 7th February 2014

Circuit Length: 4.025km

Bike # 5 – Johann Zarco – 65 laps, best time – 1.371

Bike # 2 – Josh Herrin n/a

Weather: air temperature 17°C (dry) / track temperature 28°C max

The first unofficial Moto 2 test of 2014 started at a blustery Almeria Circuit.

Whilst Johann Zarco was reacquainted with his #5 bike, severe sickness prevented Californian Josh Herrin from riding and he was advised to sit out day one of the test.

After nearly three months since riding the Caterham Suter bike, Johann Zarco wasted no time in blowing off the winter cobwebs and getting back up to speed. Putting in an impressive 65 laps, the Frenchman was relentless, taking little breaks from his test duties on the Almeria track and building confidence along the way.

Johann Zarco: “Today it was good to get used to the feeling and the limits of the Caterham Suter again. It was important that we didn’t have to do too much with the set-up so I was able to get into a rhythm as quick as possible.

“Tomorrow the aim is to consistently improve the lap times, this is always the target but it is also only the second day and we must work towards the IRTA test which is the most important. Here it is about getting a feel for the bike again and so far I am really happy. We don’t have a fixed target but we know where we want to be, so we will see tomorrow.”

Josh Herrin: “I’m really disappointed that I wasn’t able to ride today but it did allow me to rest up, so hopefully I will feel better tomorrow. I want to thank all of my team for their support, they worked incredibly hard last night getting the bike ready for me and I’m sorry for them that I was unable to ride. I hope that I can get out on the bike tomorrow and put in some serious track time.”

Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager: “With Josh I think it was the best decision to make him rest today and hopefully he is better tomorrow. Everything is ready for him, so I hope that he can come here and get some mileage both for himself and the guys. To have some technical information is really important and we have a couple of things we’d like to try with him that we’ve been working on over the winter.

“For Johann I’m really happy with his progress today, although we started a bit late he put in 65 laps and did a good run. We didn’t change a lot on the bike with more or less the same settings as last year. Now we have a couple of things to try for tomorrow. He feels confident and relaxed on the bike which is great and I’m very pleased that we are here now and able to test two days before Valencia.

“I want to thank all of the guys for their hard work over the past couple of days to get the bikes ready, as well as all our partners and everyone in Caterham who have supported us in getting here.”