Methodical start for Smith in Cataluña

Posted on Jun 03, 2016 by Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Bradley Smith methodically began to set up his Yamaha YZR-M1 for the 23 lap sprint as he aims to follow up his strong result at the previous round in Mugello with another determined performance on Sunday. The 25 year old tirelessly completed 20 laps in the morning session, more than another other MotoGP rider, and finished less than a second back from third. Smith got straight back into the groove in FP2 as he carried on the vital setup work whilst he sampled the various compounds of Michelin tyres. His personal best from FP1 leaves him in 16th overall and with a firm plan of action in place for tomorrow, where the young Briton will seek to bounce back strongly and seal a top tier grid position.

Bradley Smith: – Position 18th: – Time: 1'43.470 – Laps: 40
"I think it’s been a bit of a tricky start for everyone in Cataluña today. We had three types of compound for both the front and rear so we wanted to try as many as possible. However, it looks like some of the compounds were a bit too soft for this conditions, and now it looks like we will have to use the harder option for the race and the rest of the weekend. As a result of assessing the tyres, we haven’t found the optimum chassis setting at the moment, because with sampling all the tyres, you have a different feeling and feedback and it’s time consuming. However, I am comfortable on the bike but we need to focus on the front turning for tomorrow and it’s a small change but it makes a big difference because there are a lot of high-speed corners at this racetrack. In addition, we also need to improve our corner speed. Overall, the bike balance is ok as well as the rear grip. We will analyse everything further tonight, but we currently have two clear options that we want to try tomorrow with bike one and two, anyway we are certain that we can lower the lap time and get back inside the top ten."