Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Bradley Smith kicked off his Mugello campaign with a confident surge to 5^th position in the combined standings on the opening day of action at the highly anticipated Gran Premio d’Italia TIM. The British rider started the morning practice positively by clinching 8th place with a time of 1’48.349 that left him only 0.045 behind the 5th placed rider. As the sun shone down on the meandering 5.245 kilometre track throughout the day, Smith began his FP2 run with intent to continue the vital set up work with the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team. After having successfully evaluated all of the available tyre options, the 23 year old met the chequered flag with a lap of 1’48.038. This time resulted in him seizing 5^th as well as the honours of being the top satellite rider. In addition, his final time was just under two tenths of a second from third and leaves him fully primed for a successful qualifying performance tomorrow. 

On the other hand, Pol Espargaro completed the first day of practice in the Tuscan hills with a finish of 10^th place aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1. The young Spaniard looked to bounce back from his recent right arm surgery and started his Mugello weekend by finishing in 9th, merely 0.041 behind his teammate. Having begun the day with some solid set up work, he looked to refine and continue this progress in the afternoon, in preparation for the 23 lap sprint on Sunday. As the end of the FP2 session inched closer, the 2013 Moto2 World Champion sped to a best time of 1’48.283 on his penultimate lap that left him in 10^th overall, but only 0.159 back from 6th. He will carry on his work in free practice 3 as he looks to guide his Yamaha YZR-M1 to a strong qualifying position in final 15 minute shootout tomorrow.

"The first day has been really positive and I am pleased with how the bike feels at this circuit, which I am a big fan of. We have been fast from the word go which is a good opening to the weekend especially as we have struggled here a little bit in the past. Yet today, I was able to ride the bike exactly how I wanted to and I sampled both types of compound for the front and rear tyres, so now we have a good indication of which direction to head towards. I’m even happier as I still feel there is room for improvement as my lap was not quite perfect. Tomorrow we need to work a small amount on the balance of the bike, especially in the afternoon when the temperature increases, as this will be critical for the race on Sunday. Overall, we’re less than two tenths back from the factory Yamaha of Lorenzo, so we are in a good place, but tomorrow we need to make another step forward to get into the 1’47 lap times."

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"The day started in a good fashion this morning, but the second free practice session was a bit more challenging. For some reason, I didn't feel too comfortable on the bike and the lap times did not come easily, so we have to check the data and make a good plan for tomorrow. Nevertheless, the gap to the guys in front is very small as we are all so close together, which is positive, but for today a 10th position finish is nothing to be happy about. However, there are some positives to take. We tried a front tyre which I actually quite liked but the best thing is that my arm is definitely doing much better than I expected and I hope it won't influence my race too much."

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