Good start at home GP for Barbera

A three-week wait for the MotoGP World Championship to resume finally ended amidst great expectation at Jerez today, as free practice for the Grand Prix of Spain got underway in bright sunshine and warm conditions. With the postponement of last week’s race at Motegi, the first European round was more eagerly-awaited than usual and the action lived up to the hype this afternoon as Casey Stoner continued his domination of practice from Qatar and the Ducatis in general remained competitive, with Nicky Hayden third and Héctor Barberá eighth.

Páginas Amarillas Aspar rider Barberá clocked his best lap of the session on only his fourth lap, having taken to the track in determined and focused fashion. A small crash ten minutes into the session slowed his progress somewhat although he was able to return to the circuit uninjured and see out a satisfactory first session, which he ended as the fastest rookie.

8th Héctor Barberá 1.41.034 (21 laps): “I was excited to get the session started and I went out there with a lot of enthusiasm, setting a fast pace from the beginning. Unfortunately after four laps I braked too late into the last corner and crashed. It was my mistake but luckily I wasn’t hurt. After that I went back out on my second bike, which had a different set-up, and I found it hard to set the same pace on it. I was able to get back out on my first bike but there wasn’t enough time to improve any further. I enjoyed the first part of the session a lot and the most positive thing is that my lap times are faster than the last time we were here. I feel very comfortable on the bike, we’re closing the gap to the top guys and even though eighth place is a good start to the weekend I believe we still have lots of room for improvement.”