Promising Moto2 test at Jerez: QMMF riders Elena Rossell and Damian Cudlin make steady progress with new bikes QMMF Racing Team riders Elena Rossell and Damian Cudlin concluded three days of testing at Jerez with promising results. Whilst lap times on the legendary Grand Prix circuit in the south-west corner of the Iberian peninsula were still insignificant all Moto2 teams kept using their own engines with great differences in power output both riders accomplished all their goals of acquiring detailed knowledge about their brand-new Moriwaki bikes and of supplying the technicians with the feedback necessary to customize the bikes to their specific needs. Whereas Elena Rossell, the only female rider in Motorcycle Grand Prix racing, worked on improving her own riding skills on the challenging Jerez circuit as much as on chassis and suspension set-up, team-mate Damian Cudlin was very specific in his demands, with a clear focus on seating position and steering precision at the corner entries. All rider data and rider comments will now be carefully analyzed and the required modifications to the bikes will be carried out over the next four weeks before testing resumes again at Jerez on March 19th with the official race engines. Elena Rossell: “Jerez is a fantastic track that I know from the Stock Extreme category, but with the Moto2 machine, it’s a completely different experience than with my former 1000 cc bike. I had to find and establish new reference points for braking and cornering before we could start to work on the set-up of the bike. But with every lap, I got a little bit faster and more confident. Over the three days, we managed to improve steadily, step by step, concentrating on these reference and braking points and a smooth and precise corner entry. I am starting to develop the right feel for the bike and even though there are a few guys that seem to be really fast, much faster than I at the moment, I am confident that we will be fairly competitive soon and that we will be able to put up a fight when the season gets under way!” Damian Cudlin: “We are making steady improvements. We have gone through a lot of options with the set-up and we are starting to get a little closer to what I want and need from the bike. Footpegs, handlebars, all the controls are now at a place where I feel comfortable sitting on the bike. Riding around the track, there are still places where I’m not quite able to do what I want to do with the bike at this moment. We are working on cornering, as I can’t hit exact lines the way I’d like to. It sometimes feels as if the bike is taking me for a ride instead of the other way around. But I’m not worried: Between the Valencia tests and the session here at Jerez was not much time to make changes to the bike. Now, we have a few weeks in which we can go ahead with certain modifications like a higher windscreen to suit my size. At the next tests in Jerez, we will not only be able to confirm these changes, we will also be able to see where we really stand in comparison to the other riders in this class, because we will be using the official single engine for the first time this year!”