Good start for Terol at sunny Le Mans

The pleasant surprise of some warm summer sunshine has welcomed the teams and riders to Le Mans for the fourth round of the 125cc World Championship, with the riders able to make use of ideal conditions in their first hour of track time this afternoon. The pace was as hot as the temperatures, with lap records set in 2008 already under threat on the opening day.

It was a mixed first session for the Bancaja Aspar team, with Nico Terol and Bradley Smith both on the pace in the early stages before suffering mechanical problems. Terol, who sat atop the time sheets for the majority of the session, broke down in turn five with just five minutes remaining – enough time for his rivals to relegate him to fourth place. His team-mate Smith was even unluckier, completing just nine laps before an engine problem halted his progress.

4th Nico Terol 1.45.104 (22 laps): “I am really happy because we set out strongly from the start. I felt comfortable on the bike and was able to gather a lot of confidence quickly. I’m using the same tyres as Jerez, which worked well there, and I was able to set a decent consistent pace over 21 laps. Then I put some softer tyres on to push for a better time over the last five minutes of the session but I only got one lap in because of a problem with the bike. I’m sure we’ll have it sorted tomorrow so I’ll take the positives from today, which was the good feeling I had with the bike.”