Moncayo smiling again thanks to new chassis, Faubel looking for solution in windy conditions

Danny Kent in the morning and Sandro Cortese in the afternoon were the two fastest riders on day one of practice for the British Grand Prix. The two Moto3 sessions were significantly different at Silverstone: The morning run was wet, whilst the track was completely dry by the afternoon. Spots of rain threw an added variable into the mix. The riders erred on the side of caution and only nine of them went below the 2:19 mark. The times were some way off those of the 125cc class last year.

There was plenty of hard work undertaken by the BANKIA Aspar Team on Friday. New material had been received since the last race, and this time it was Alberto Moncayo who used the new Kalex chassis. The Spaniard felt very comfortable with the new addition and this was reflected in his lap times, as he placed inside the top ten overall.

Héctor Faubel was one of the more prudent riders in the wet, and in the afternoon he was fifteenth. He expects to pick up his pace and challenge the frontrunners on Saturday, when the Moto3 field have their final free practice session and qualifying for the British Grand Prix to decide the grid.

9th Alberto Moncayo 2.19.977 (26 laps): “We are very happy –finally the smiles are back on our faces. We changed chassis and things are very positive, even in the wet. Right from the start I could feel the improvement. The bike is much more agile and easier to move around, but this is only the start. We can’t settle for this and we need to keep on working in order to get everything finetuned to perfection. We ended the day in the top ten, which is a good start to the GP. In the dry we tried a few things and the wind threw us off a bit, but we were able to pick up a lot of data. The important thing is to have a clear idea about the direction in which we are going.”

15th Héctor Faubel 2.21.046 (26 laps): “This morning we performed pretty well in the wet. In the afternoon we had a dry track and I also felt good then at the start, but when it started spitting and the wind picked up I found things a bit tougher. The front end was lifting up a lot on the fast corners, which is something we need to work on with weight distribution in order to rectify the issue. I am happy with everything else. The new chassis is working better every time and I feel that I am improving with every session. We placed far down the order, but if we keep on working then we can be right up there tomorrow.”

Source: Team Aspar Press Release