Faubel and Moncayo still having to work hard to close in on the top riders

BANKIA ASPAR pair Alberto Moncayo and Héctor Faubel made a positive start to the Grand Prix of Portugal, finishing third and thirteenth fastest in this morning’s opening free practice session at Estoril. Despite damp conditions and no fewer than four different kinds of asphalt the notoriously unforgiving Portuguese track proved no obstacle for Moncayo in particular, but when the sun came out for a dry afternoon session both riders ran into problems with their KALEX-KTM machine. Nevertheless, with Faubel twelfth and Moncayo eighteenth overall on a day that saw home favourite Miguel Oliveira set the pace, there is plenty of margin for improvement tomorrow.

12th Héctor Faubel (1.50.535, 23 laps): “I was fairly happy and running in fifth or sixth position until our final run, when I put a new tyre in and the engine packed in. We have tried a lot of things so we’ll keep the good stuff tomorrow and try again with a new engine. Up until my gear shifter broke at Jerez I was having a good race so let’s see if we can close the gap to the top a little tomorrow.”

18th Alberto Moncayo (1.57.605, 27 laps): “My feeling with the bike this morning was good, I took things steady and even though the track was slippery I felt okay. Our problems came back in the afternoon though. I have no complaints about the engine but the issue is the chassis, I just can’t get the bike to turn. We have to keep working hard and not lose hope though. I have every faith in this team and we are not looking around at what other riders have, we just need to work on what we have.”

Source: Aspar Team