Aleix Espargaro shows strongly in first Motegi practice sessions

The GP of Japan got underway at Motegi today with current World Champion Casey Stoner making his return to action from injury. The first race of an Asia-Oceana three week triple-header saw ideal conditions on track and another battle for supremacy between Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, who set the pace in the first and second free practices respectively. Lap times are already inside the 2011 record and with barely a fraction of a second covering the top five riders there could be an entertaining battle for the podium on Sunday.

There were mixed fortunes for the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar riders, who both recorded positive results but also crashed in the same corner. Aleix and Randy both lost the front in turn nine, the Spaniard in the morning and the Frenchman in the afternoon. However, they led the CRT charge once again, Espargaró finishing thirteenth and fastest of the new concept MotoGP machines with De Puniet closing out the top fifteen.

13th Aleix Espargaró 1.48.470 (27 laps):
“I am happy with our performance today and the bike worked very well. We made a few chances and it improved quite a lot from one session to the next. I crashed this morning because I didn’t have a feel for the front but thanks to the mechanic we were able to improve the situation for the second session. I am satisfied with this for a first day but we need to keep working to improve the rear traction. We have to keep going in the same way as the last race to close down the points gap to Randy in the championship on Sunday.”

Source: Team Aspar