Espargaro and Vazquez finish difficult first day in 5th an 8th

Pol Espargaró, twice, as well as Efrén Vázquez have crashed on the first day of practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix, marred by horrendous weather conditions, heavy rain and strong wind. Both Tuenti Racing riders worked hard on the setups of their bikes, knowing that the forecast for tomorrow shows similar weather, but an improvement for Sunday.
Pol Esprgaró was fifth-fastest today while his teammate Efrén Vázquez finished the day in 8th, while countryman Alberto Moncayo surprised the field with the fastest laptime in the second free practice. Championship leader Marc Marquez also crashed in the early stages of the session.

5. POL ESPARGARÓ: “The conditions out on track were very difficult, as much in the morning for the lack of light as it was in the afternoon with the extreme downpour, but we had to out to and do some laps, because the forecasts say the weather will stay like this for tomorrow. I’ve had two crashes without consequences, because I tried to risk a bit more each lap to improve my laptime, but fortunately I’ve not injured myself or damaged the bike too much. Tomorrow we’ll continue to work on the setup and I hope I can go to Valencia still with options to fight for the title.”

8. EFRÉN VÁZQUEZ: “I’ve slowly gone better and better during the practice and I’m pretty satisfied with how things have gone, even though I crashed in the afternoon session and spent a lot of time in the box. The weather was not the best, but these conditions affected everybody, so we had to continue our work and find the best setup for the bike. I believe that in Estoril I can continue the progress of the last races and get a good result.”

Source: Tuenti Derbi Racing