Epsom motorcycle racer Gino Rea finished his second Moto2 test positively last weekend after a stressful three days at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain, writes Alannah Fellows.

The 22-year-old has been provisionally named as a Gresini Racing Moto2 Moriwaki driver for this year’s championships but is still yet to secure his ride completely, so the test was his second chance to impress and get himself set up for a successful debut in the Moto2 class.

Day one of the test was wasted with the Moriwaki bike suffering from a blown engine, meaning the team could not continue and Rea did not put in a lap time.

Day two had a similar outcome, with the bike causing the team rear end problems, resulting in the European Superstock champion being two seconds off the fastest man, Gloucester’s Scott Redding.

However, on the third and final day of the test, the Gresini team solved Rea’s previous problems resulting in a full days testing and it reaped dividends.

With track temperatures just above six degrees for most of the day, conditions were not ideal but Rea completed 48 laps of the Valencia Circuit, recording a best time of one minutes, 36.4 seconds, only 1.1 seconds off the leader and finishing the day in ninth position.

Rea is close to signing a deal with Gresini and will be present for the next pre-season test at the Jerez Circuit this weekend.