Britain’s Bradley Smith was just edged out of top spot on the first day of MotoGP testing at Qatar after leading for the whole session, he was knocked off top spot by Aleix Espargaro on the Open class Forward Yamaha, Smith’s bike from last year.

The Oxfordshire rider set a 1’55.639 which was bettered by less than three tenths by Espargaro right at the end of the day but Smith is confident he will improve over the next couple of days.

The Factory teams, which includes the Open class Ducatis, that tested at Phillip Island, are not allowed to test at Qatar.

“Today was a good day. I am happy that the base setup worked immediately here, which means we did a good job in Sepang and so, we didn’t have to make many changes. The track condition was better than I expected and after an hour the track was in much better shape, which is positive as it means we can have a good test here,” he said.

“ It was a bit frustrating to be fastest for nearly the whole day, and then getting passed so close to the end, but there are still two days to go. Tomorrow we will try bike 1 and bike 2 and make a few more changes. I am really happy with the setup as it is, but I want to make sure it is the right way, and that’s why we need to play with the geometry of the bike a little more. I will definitely do the race simulation on the last day, and possibly another one tomorrow too.