West was fastest in Moto2 testing at Valencia yesterday.

Australian Anthony West has made a shock appearance at Valencia’s Moto2 World Championship test, lapping fastest on an MZ in what is the first full test for the category.

Former factory Kawasaki MotoGP rider West set a quickest lap time of 1:37.4, over half a second slower than Kenaan Sofuoglu’s best World Supersport lap of the test on the same day, although the Moto2 bikes are mostly using standard Honda CBR600RR engines as they await the official control engines.

Second quick during yesterday’s opening day of testing was reigning 125cc Grand Prix World Champion Julian Simon, riding a Team Aspar bike with a BQR chassis after Aprilia sensationally quit the category last month.

Former 250GP and World Superbike star Roberto Rolfo was third quickest on a Suter-MMX, albeit a second off the pace of West, while Raffaele De Rosa was the best of the Tech 3 riders in fourth position.

Rounding out the top five was Mike di Meglio on the second of the Aspar bikes.

The Moto2 test will continue tomorrow at Valencia in a continuation of chassis development for the teams, while the control engine that will be utilised next year isn’t expected to be delivered by HRC until March.

Moto2 Test Times
1 Anthony West MZ 1:37.4
2 Julian Simon BQR 1:37.9
3 Roberto Rolfo Suter-MMX 1:38.4
4 Raffaele De Rosa Tech3 1:39.2
5 Mike di Meglio BQR 1:39.3
6 Axel Pons Kalex 1:40.4
7 Sergio Gadea Kalex 1:40.4
8 Alessandro Brannetti CRP 1:40.5