Elias happy with work on race pace, Terol optimistic for further improvement

The Moto2 class did not escape from the weather conditions that also affected MotoGP and Moto3 today at Silverstone, and the riders in the intermediate class experienced one wet session and another in the dry. British riders Bradley Smith and Scott Redding placed high up the order in practice for their home race, but in the end it was Spaniard Pol Espargaró who was the fastest man on the timesheet. A run-off area saw plenty of action as riders cut the corner in the second sector, with various riders penalized for doing so.

The MAPFRE Aspar riders left the cautious start to the morning session behind them in the afternoon, working hard against the clock. Toni Elías spent most of the afternoon in fourth place, but times were not his focus on Friday. The Spaniard was focusing on Sunday’s race by riding on used tyres for extended stints. The result was a positive one and he cliamed the seventh best time of the day.

MAPFRE Aspar teammate Nico Terol also went well early on in the afternoon, but the strong winds affected his work in the second half of the afternoon. He hopes to take a step forward on Saturday.

7th Toni Elías 2.10.052 (30 laps): “This has probably been our best start of the year to a race weekend. Silverstone is a difficult track and yet we still have a good pace in the majority of the sections -especially when bearing in mind that we worked all day with a used tyre in order to prepare for the race. I am very optimistic and I think that the direction in which we are going is a positive one. We can’t sleep easy, because everyone is sure to step things up a gear tomorrow. I suppose that with a soft tyre on at the end we might have been higher up the order, but that wasn’t important today. We have pace; we just need a little more grip from the front.”

20th Nico Terol 2.11.094 (33 laps): “We rode on a damp track this morning and had a good feeling with the bike. The surface began dry in the afternoon, but we had plenty of wind to deal with too. I was also comfortable until the midway point of the session and was inside the top ten or twelve. However, with the new tyre I pushed harder and ended up dropping my pace instead of going faster, because I could not get comfortable with the wind so high. I can take away the good feeling from the first part of the run. We have to continue working hard with the team in the same way that we have been, trying to get the most out of the bike. I am sure that with a bit more calm tomorrow we can make a big improvement.”

Source: Team Aspar Press Release