Aspar Honda’s Eugene Laverty turned in what he describes as his best Friday performance so far in MotoGP at the Jerez round as he didn’t have to learn the track and could concentrate on setup.
The Monegasque stayed inside the top 15 for the whole day and believes he is in with a good shout of making it into qualifying two for the first time as tenth is under half a second away from his best of 1’40.114.
“This has probably been my best Friday in MotoGP so far because I didn't have to spend the first two sessions learning the track. We were in the top fifteen all day so it's been a positive start,” said Laverty.
“We could have dipped into the 1'39s this morning but it was more difficult this afternoon because the track temperatures increased so much and the bike started to slide. We have worked hard to find more rear grip here. We did a great job in practice in Argentina and Austin but struggled for grip in the race so we want to make sure that doesn't happen again here.
“On one hand I want to make sure we are ready for the race but at the same time I can see the top ten from where I am and it would be nice to try and get into Q2 tomorrow. But clearly the race is the most important thing so that is the main focus. Today we worked with a variety of suspension configurations and we have to check over the data to find a balance between being fast and being consistent.”
