Rossi protege Fenati fastest in Moto3 Jerez test

Valentino Rossi academy member Romano Fenati finished as the fastest rider in the official three-day pre-season Moto3 test at Jerez.

The Sky Racing rider set the quickest time of 1m46.445s in the final session on Thursday, which was enough for the KTM man to stay on top until the end of the test.

Estrella Galicia Honda's Jorge Navarro was a mere 0.060s behind, with Fenati's rookie teammate Niccolo Bulega a further 0.034s off to end third overall.

Bulega had topped the timesheets on Wednesday, before doing so again on the final day.

Nicolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold) ended fourth fastest, with South African Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the top five.

2015 title contender Enea Bastianini finished sixth, while rookie Joan Mir, riding for last year's champion squad Leopard Racing, was seventh - five places ahead of teammate Fabio Quartararo.

Livio Loi (RW Racing GP), the lead Mahindra of Jorge Martin (Aspar), and Andrea Migno (Sky Racing) rounded off the top 10.

At the end of the three-day test, the top 14 riders were within a second of Fenati's time.

While rookie Bulega shone, his former CEV Moto3 rival Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia Honda) finished down in 18th, one place ahead of Red Bull Rookies champion Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo).

Maria Herrera almost didn't make the test owing to funding issues for her Laglisse team, which appeared at Jerez with a sole KTM bike for the Spanish female rider following a last-minute cash injection.

She finished the test with the 20th best time, but her former teammate Lorenzo Dalla Porta has been left in the cold and was absent.

Combined times:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Romano Fenati	KTM	1.46.445
2	Jorge Navarro	Honda	0.060
3	Nicolo Bulega	KTM	0.094
4	Niccolo Antonelli	Honda	0.105
5	Brad Binder	KTM	0.173
6	Enea Bastianini	Honda	0.280
7	Joan Mir	KTM	0.280
8	Livio Loi	Honda	0.445
9	Jorge Martin	Mahindra	0.449
10	Andrea Migno	KTM	0.576
11	Philipp Oettl	KTM	0.741
12	Fabio Quartararo	KTM	0.858
13	Juanfran Guevara	KTM	0.908
14	Jakub Kornfeil	Honda	0.974
15	Pecco Bagnaia	Mahindra	1.002
16	Gabri Rodrigo	KTM	1.059
17	Jules Danilo	Honda	1.088
18	Aron Canet	Honda	1.118
19	Bo Bendsneyder	KTM	1.285
20	Maria Herrera	KTM	1.431
21	Andrea Locatelli	KTM	1.433
22	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda	1.458
23	Darryn Binder	Mahindra	1.593
24	Karel Hanika	Mahindra	1.603
25	John McPhee	Peugeot	1.640
26	Tatsuki Suzuki	Mahindra	1.743
27	Hiroki Ono	Honda	1.800
28	Alexis Masbou	Peugeot	2.047
29	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Honda	2.094
30	Adam Norrodin	Honda	2.197
31	Stefano Valtulini	Mahindra	2.714
32	Lorenzo Petrarca	Mahindra	2.781
33	Fabio Spiranelli	Mahindra	4.092