Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Pol Espargaro kick-started his home campaign in front of his passionate crowd by completing the opening day in 9^th position in the combined standings. The 24 year old rider started his weekend by making the initial steps in setting up his Yamaha YZR-M1 for Sunday’s 25 lap sprint as he concluded the practice in 14th place. In FP2 the temperature increased and Espargaro continued his work whilst aiming to improve the setup of his bike. After undertaking 20 laps around the 4.7 kilometre circuit, he finished with a best time of 1’42.313 in the tightly contested opening day of action. Tomorrow he will intend to clinch a top grid position in the all-important qualifying session, for round 7 of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship in front of the ever-ecstatic Catalan crowd.

Meanwhile, Bradley Smith concluded the opening shake down at the Catalan Grand Prix in 14^th position in the combined standings. The young British rider began the day by making the first alterations to his MotoGP bike with the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team and finished FP1 in 15th place. As soon as free practice 2 began, Smith got straight to work and continued his relentless efforts in getting prepared for the 25 lap battle on Sunday, whilst completing a total of 21 laps around the circuit. This was the highest number reached in the MotoGP field and the young rider met the chequered flag in 13th with a best lap of 1’42.645. He now aims to make additional adjustments for his race setup tomorrow in preparation for the Monster Energy sponsored Catalunya Grand Prix on Sunday.

"Overall, I am pleased with how the day went as we performed a lot better than the time sheets indicate. We have the same handicap as usual whereby the MotoGP open class bikes with the soft tyres, are in front of us. Furthermore, the Ducati’s have a clear advantage as well on the long straight because of their engines. Yet, we still did a solid job as we are only just behind Lorenzo and in front of Rossi. The bike is working well at this track and although we still have some margin of improvement to make, we are doing our best in getting ready for Sunday which is the day it really counts. "

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"It was a slightly tricky opening to this round. This was due to the fact the track has a little less grip than in previous years, so we struggled a bit to get the optimum traction. However, we made a lot of setting changes in order to find a good direction to head towards tomorrow, which we now have, especially after I was able to check over both of the front and rear tyres today. At the end of the practice I focused more on getting a good rhythm with the soft tyre, instead of setting a hot lap time as I believe this compound will be the one for the race so I tried to remain in the 1’42’s consistently. Overall, I am pleased with the bike and now we just need to find a little bit of additional grip. If we achieve this, I believe we can have a strong showing and finish we were want to. "

Profil