What a week it has been for Sam Wilford and his IDWe Moto 2 team, with back to back tests in Estoril and Silverstone ahead of the first round of the British GP2 Championship.

The team entered the CEV opening round at Estoril in Portugal as a test to get more data and experience on the 2018 Kalex Moto 2 machine; Sam Wilford will be riding for the team this season.

In Portugal, the team completed four days on track in the European Moto 2 Championship alongside some of the MotoGP academy teams of SIC, Gresini, Dynavolt to name just a few.

The weekend saw very un-Portuguese weather conditions with heavy rain throughout qualifying and Race One. Qualifying was a struggle to find the ultimate pace and ended with a 24th starting place for both races on Sunday, leaving Sam with a lot to do in the races.

In Race One, Wilford made a good start and was fighting throughout the race on his CEV debut to finish in the points in 15th place. Race Two saw a drying track in overcast conditions and it was a gamble to choose slicks if it stayed dry or wets. With the choice of slicks made Sam worked his way through the pack to finish in 16th, with lap times that matched top ten riders leaving the team the confidence that with better qualifying, Sam could run towards the front of the field.

On finishing the second race on Sunday afternoon, the team packed up the race truck to set off on the 1450 mile journey straight to Silverstone for the official British Superbikes Test the following Tuesday. The team worked throughout the test on settings for the first round of the British Superbikes Championship at the iconic Northamptonshire circuit on Easter weekend.

Speaking after the weekend, Wilford said: “It was a successful weekend at my first European Moto2 championship race at Estoril! We managed to learn a lot more about the bike and finish in the points in race 1.

“Then the whole team pulled together to do a great job to get back to Silverstone on Tuesday for the official BSB test! I feel strong and that we are ready to fight at round 1 of the Championship in a couple of weeks. We have done a great job as a team to get ready for the first round, and I can’t wait to get going!”