Danny Kent has set his sights on race wins on his return to Moto2 with the Speed Up team, but insists the team must keeps its expectations “realistic” this year.
The 2015 Moto3 world champion last raced full-time in the class in 2016, having parted ways with the Kiefer team during last year's Americas Grand Prix weekend.
The Briton made two appearances later in the year with Dynavolt, as replacement for the injured Marcel Schrotter, while also competing twice in Moto3 with the Ajo team in place of Niccolo Antonelli.
Agreeing a two-year deal to partner Fabio Quartararo at Speed Up for this season, Kent is confident he can secure a top seven result in the season-opening Qatar race next weekend.
“Of course we're always aiming to win races,” he said when asked of his expectations for the season ahead.
“But I say the same every year, we have to be realistic. We're going to be going to Qatar on the back foot, but I'm still confident we can do a good job.
“The team has proven they can win races in previous years, I know with a different suspension, but if I work hard, the team work hard, I'm sure we can start the year off with a top seven.
“I worked my all winter inside Italy, I worked very hard on my fitness. I can already feel it out on track, I can do more laps, I feel a lot more relaxed on the bike, I feel a lot stronger. I'm feeling good for the year.”
Kent has spent much of the pre-season evaluating three makes of suspension, with Speed Up deciding to switch from WP to Ohlins for this year at last week's Jerez test.
Changeable conditions robbed Kent of track time on the new suspension, and reckons the team will have to do some “guess work” in Qatar; though is nevertheless pleased with his feeling on the new material despite limited running.
“Quite a lot has changed inside the team,” he added.
“We did three tests, and in these tests we used three different suspensions. It's been busy for me, it's been busy for the team.
“We've been a bit unlucky with the final day in Jerez, because we switched to Ohlins suspension and we were only able to do four dry sessions, which means we go to Qatar with a bit of guess work [to do].
“But, overall, these three sessions, the feeling I had with the bike was quite good. There are a few areas where we need to improve, but considering the track time we had I was happy with the laptime we made, and the feeling with the used tyre was also very good, which is important for the race.”
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