Monster Yamaha’s Bradley Smith carried on his Qatar MotoGP testing form into the first day of free practice at Losail, setting the third fastest time of the opening session.
Smith, along with team-mate Pol Espargaro, were quicker than the other Factory riders but half a second slower than the other Espargaro, Aleix, on the Open class Forward NGM Yamaha.
“Today was a really good start for us. The track conditions were different to when we tested here, probably due to a sandstorm which happened recently. However, the grip improved during the session and I was able to do 1:55 lap times again,” said Smith.
“As I could keep this rhythm quite easily I decided that it wasn’t worth pushing to the absolute limit, as it was still a bit too risky with the conditions, so I will wait until tomorrow as the grip will improve for sure.
“Of course, I am happy with 3rd and we are close to Bautista who is on the same tyres. Anyway I’m confident that we will get closer to the top as the track gets better, but the 3 days of testing has definitely helped us. Our aim is to stay in front of the factory bikes, for as long as possible.”
