Britain's Bradley Smith has said he wants to be fighting at the front right from the world go when the 125GP season kicks off at Qatar tomorrow – the pace where he took pole last year.

The teenage Bajanca Aspar Aprilia rider returns to one of his favourite tracks this weekendand has been fast in testing and is keen not to let team-mate Julian Simón get away.

"I can only say that I am really happy to be starting this season. Testing is nice, and we've done an exhaustive amount of work over the winter, trying to improve the bike the maximum possible when compared to last year," said the Oxfordshire lad.

"The end objective has always been the races. The work has been great up until now, and I think that we have taken a big step forward from my first test in Valencia back in November. We have to keep fighting up at the front, and the tests have given us an idea of this.

"Races are different though, and the season is long, so the goal for Sunday is to get as many points as possible and start things off well. Once we get past Japan and Jerez then we will see where we are."