The Monster Yamaha Tech3 team rider Pol Espargaro kicked off his German GP campaign by finishing the opening day of action in Saxony in 11th. The young Spaniard jumped into action when the first session commenced as clouds hovered above the undulating circuit and he completed 8 laps before the rain began to fall, and thus, he concluded the practice in 6th. In the afternoon, he carried on from where he left off and the rain did not return as he powered onwards whilst continuing his set-up work in preparation for Sunday’s race. He eventually completed 24 laps, which was more than any other MotoGP rider and his fastest time was set on the 18th lap, that puts him less than half of a second back from the top five. The 2013 Moto2 World Champion will look to take another step forward tomorrow and clinch a solid grid position for the 9th round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship.
On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 pit box, Bradley Smith battled the physically demanding circuit and he finished day one right behind his teammate as he prepares to fight for the top independent position on Sunday. The young Briton got straight to work when the opening session commenced, and he took the first steps in adjusting the setup of his Yamaha YZR-M1 to suit the twisting circuit. The track time was cut short due to the mixed conditions, yet Smith optimistically looked on to the afternoon. Here, he gradually built up his pace, before speeding to a personal best, which leaves him only 0.060 behind his teammate. With better weather expected tomorrow, Smith confidently focuses on seizing a top tier qualifying position for the 30-lap sprint on Sunday.
Pol Espargaro
Position: 11th - Time: 1'23.400 - Laps: 32
"The weather has clearly influenced the opening day here in Germany, because neither myself, Michelin nor anybody else expected Germany to be like this in July. Therefore, I suffered but especially with the front. Altogether I would say, that the compounds that we have available seem to be a bit too hard, and it's not at all easy to bring them up to the right temperature. Anyway, we were able to get out on track and try a few setup solutions, but we can say now that the bike is working well overall so I'm confident for the rest of the weekend. I believe that today’s results can't be taken into account too much as a lot of riders changed tyres at the end of the session, and we didn't do this, but nevertheless I am sure that we can make a big improvement on new rubber. We decided to finish on the same compounds that we used all day in order to have a higher number left for FP3 and the qualifying session because the allocation here is quite tight. Now we look forward to better weather for tomorrow."
Bradley Smith
Position: 12th - Time: 1'23.460 - Laps: 27
"Obviously, conditions like these always make it difficult here in Sachsenring because it's a track that only has three right corners. You expect the circuit temperature to be around 30 degrees as it’s July, but I don’t think it was even above 20 today which of course, makes the job more difficult for Michelin. We saw the usual crashes that we unfortunately expect at turn eleven and hopefully all the riders who fell are ok, but there are always a few falls on the first day, as we begin to adjust the setting and our riding style for the remainder of the weekend. On the track I felt good, especially this afternoon and we kept the tyres from this morning so in the end, after doing four runs, we did full race distance by the end of FP2. In addition, I did my best lap on my last which means we are looking quite strong in terms of endurance. Yet, I am disappointed to be outside of the top ten, but we are not too far away from that target and my teammate is only a small step in front. It looks like we have room for improvement tomorrow so we’ll make some minor changes and wait for better track conditions, then hopefully, with a bit more temperature, the front tyre and rear will work better, but overall, I am pleased with our start."
Hervé Poncharal - Team manager:
“Today should have been a very positive day, as it started with the announcement of the Dorna Independent Team’s agreement, but it actually turned out to be sad and a day of mourning. As we know, last night in France there was an atrocity at the Bastille Day Celebrations where people were on holiday and enjoying life at this time of the summer on the Côte d'Azur. A lot of people lost their lives for no reason. As a Frenchman and also a team representative for the MotoGP community, I want to express my great sadness and I would like to tell the world that we are with all those who have been affected.”
