Britain’s Bradley Smith making a scorching start to the Sachsenring MotoGP weekend, setting the second-fastest time in free practice in Germany and is only a tenth slower than Marc Marquez.
Smith was lapping with Ducati’s Andrea Iannone and the pair pushed each closer and closer to Marquez’ blistering pace. Smith says he is happy overall but needs to find some time in sectors two and four where he is losing out.
"It was a positive start to the weekend and I am feeling comfortable on the bike already. The base setting seems to be working well at this race track and I am looking forward to getting back out tomorrow and continuing this form,” said the Monster Yamaha man.
“In addition, I’m happy about our showing today especially after the difficult time that we had last year. We were able to assess quite a lot of different front tyre options today and now we pretty much have everything clear for the race with regards to tyre choice.
“There are a few small details that we need to improve, which I noticed when I was following some other riders. Furthermore, I’m happy with how the bike handles the first and third sectors, but we need to make a few adjustments in order to improve in the other two.
“All in all, to be second at the end of day one is a strong start and now we need to keep this momentum for tomorrow, because qualifying is always so important at this circuit."
