Terol leads Spanish contingent on first day of official test at Valencia

The seemingly eternal winter break is finally over and the season now started for the riders of the small classes at the first official test in Valencia. The day started at ten, though most riders preferred to open their boxes around eleven when the track had warmed up a few degrees. From 10:00 to 14:50 all riders shared the track, afterwards the 125cc class had the track for 50 minutes before the Moto2 riders took over for another hour.

The nearly three months of winter break have been long and the Bancaja Aspar riders were eager to get on their 125cc bikes, for different reasons but equally motivated. Nico is the current runner-up in the small category and his goal is again to fight for the title. And as it is customary for him he started working from the first day on completely focused inside and outside the track. He didn’t make any major changes, but instead worked the settings used in the final Grand Prix of Valencia. He lapped with a ’41 pace with relative ease and in the last laps he achieved his personal best which was also the best of the day.
His teammate Hector Faubel also had eventful start of the preseason. The Líria native returns to the 125cc class and to prepare he lost four kilos during the winter break. He knows that this is essential to ride the small 125 bikes and wants no handicap on his way to fight for the title. Héctor was looking to loosen up his muscles on the first day of testing and do as many laps as possible to get the feeling back.

Nico Terol 1.41.050 (47 laps): “After a good winter I was thrilled to get back on the bike. At first I felt a little lost, but with with every lap I got the feeling back. My feeling for the bike has been optimal and I regularly posted decent laptimes, I am satisfied with this first day. Last year was great, but this is the past. My aim now is to concentrate on myself and work hard to improve every day. At the very least to get a pace as good as last year. I didn’t pay much attention to the laptimes of the riders, I think now is the time to build up again, to get back into it quickly and pick up the pace. Although it seems far away now the beginning of the championship is just around the corner. Today I worked on the same basis that I had in the race in Valencia, the main thing was to get back the feeling.”

Héctor Faubel 1.42.081 (63 laps): “I am very happy with my return to 125. Today I took it calmly, the important thing was to get in a lot of laps and get back the feeling. Using the day to get back to work I felt very comfortable with the Aprilia, and I rode a ’42 pace quite easily. Honestly, I thought the first time out would be harder for me, starting again I am very satisfied with the feeling I had. It is clear that now the hard part begins, starting to get the laptimes and run in the low ’40s. Anyway, today the track was not in perfect condition, so we have a wide margin for improvement. And a great motivation to continue working to improve.”

Source: Bancaja Aspar