Moncayo and Faubel satisfied with work but still looking for more

The 2012 MotoGP World Championship officially got underway with 33 riders on track for the first free practice session in Moto3 history tonight. Lap times were something of a secondary consideration as the riders got to grips with the sandy and slippery desert circuit although the new four-stroke machines look likely to match the pace of their 125cc predecessors tomorrow. As expected there was little to separate the riders on track, with Maverick Viñales narrowly heading off the rest of the field at the end of tonight’s two sessions.

BANKIA Aspar riders Alberto Moncayo and Héctor Faubel made a positive start to the new campaign, both treading carefully in the opening session before making marked progress later in the evening to shave around two seconds off their lap times. The pair started out with a similar base setting to the recent Jerez test two weeks ago and made gradual changes to cope with the lack of grip, caused by a film of sand on the track surface. Both Alberto and Héctor ended the evening happy after lapping seventh and ninth fastest respectively.

7th Alberto Moncayo 2.09.312 (27 laps): “I’m happy because we improved the lap times a lot in the second session, after building our pace gradually. We had a few issues with the front end but the mechanics did a great job to give me more feel for the suspension, which allowed me to brake harder in certain corners. We did a lot of work on used tyres, which will serve us well for the race, so it has been a good first night. We still have work to do because there are plenty of riders ahead of us but the important thing is that we have started out in positive fashion.”

9th Héctor Faubel 2.09.501 (31 laps): “We have worked hard tonight to improve my feeling for the bike compared to Jerez and I am satisfied with the progress we have made. We have to look at the telemetry and take another step tomorrow, to find some more stability in the fast corners and a little more top speed. We worked hard in both sessions and found some things to make me more comfortable with this chassis set-up. We are happy with the way it’s working in the first two sectors but we need to find something extra in the final part of the track.”

Source: Aspar Team