Jorge Martin an excellent 4th on day one at Aragon, Juanfran Guevara 15th

The final European round before the MotoGP paddock packs up and heads for the Far East kicked off today at Motorland, where perfect conditions welcomed the Moto3 riders out on track.

Enea Bastianini, who took his maiden win last time out at Misano, continued his good form here to top the time sheets in both of today’s free practice sessions. Despite the Italian’s dominance, however, there are no fewer than sixteen riders within the same second and the top three are covered by a single tenth.

This is the kind of circuit where a perfect set-up can be worth crucial tenths and, with two long straights, slipstreams are vital in Moto3.

Jorge Martín’s recent test here at Motorland seems to have had the desired effect, with the MAPFRE Team Mahindra rider showing strong pace and consistency today. At the circuit where he was crowned Rookies Cup Champion in 2015 the Spaniard moved himself to the top of the Moto3 order with four minutes remaining of this afternoon’s second session, eventually finishing just 0.187 seconds back in fourth place.

Juanfran Guevara and Pecco Bagnaia also enjoyed a positive first day here and even though they didn’t manage to put a perfect lap together they are both very happy with their rhythm today, as they finished inside a second of Bastianini in fifteenth and sixteenth respectively.

4th Jorge Martín 1.59.062 (30 laps):
“I am really happy but we have to keep our feet on the ground. It has happened to us before when we have been strong on a Friday and then not been so competitive on a Saturday, but I felt comfortable from the start this morning and I stayed out on the same set of soft tyres for the full session. In the afternoon we tried a medium rear and the pace was fast, lapping on my own. We switched to the softest option right at the end to try and set a good lap and we managed it. The important thing today as well as the lap time was our pace on used rubber. The test we did here recently was really useful and we were able to use it as a reference and make a strong start today. Tomorrow we will work hard to improve the set-up further but so far we have made a very positive start.”

15th Juanfran Guevara 1.59.826 (29 laps):
“The first day here at Motorland has gone very well. We have tried a few things to improve the performance of the swingarm, to stop the bike from moving around so much and to gain some traction. We pushed hard in the first session to try and set a good pace. In the afternoon we switched to the medium tyres, which will use for the race, and the pace was excellent again, especially because I spent the whole time riding alone. The lap times are close and if we can find a slipstream tomorrow I am sure we will pick up another couple of tenths and move even closer to the front. It is important to ride smoothly here if you want to set the perfect lap. Today was a case of setting a solid pace, tomorrow we want the lap time.”