Barbera struggling with front fork problems

The intense heat that has welcomed MotoGP to Barcelona did nothing but increase the thirst of the riders for success this weekend, with the entire Spanish contingent spending the majority of the opening free practice inside the top ten. Jorge Lorenzo battled with Casey Stoner for top spot, with Dani Pedrosa also on the pace, but just 1.745 seconds covered the entire field of permanent riders, not counting the two Japanese replacements.

Páginas Amarillas Aspar rider Héctor Barberá made a strong start and continued to improve his times throughout the session as he got to grips with the intense heat on track, the Spaniard clocking his best lap on his penultimate effort but dropping positions in the final stages. Héctor tired both bikes but struggled in the faster corners, as he did at Assen, which will be his main focus for improvement for tomorrow.

15th Héctor Barberá 1.45.004 (23 laps): “We have tried some different settings but we are not really moving forward. The good thing is that we didn’t stop trying things in our efforts to improve, the flip side is that we’re struggling with the same issues as Assen. I don’t have a feeling for the front and when I try to force it to turn the front closes on me. I don’t want to get too wrapped up in it – just keep working with the team and gradually we’ll get out of this hole. The main problem is when I try to brake and enter the corner, the bike becomes unstable and I can’t hold my line. There are two sections where I’m losing sixth tenths and they include the some of the hardest braking zones on the track. I have to try and be a little smoother because I’m struggling in T3 and T4. Now we’ll have a look at the data and see what we can improve for tomorrow.”

Source: Team Aspar