Smith fastest Yamaha on day 1 at Le Mans

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Bradley Smith completed a fantastic first day at the legendary Le Mans circuit to cement himself as the leading Yamaha in the team’s home country of France.

Having bounced back impeccably this afternoon from a crash in FP1, the young British rider remained resolute and after undertaking some key alterations to his Yamaha YZR-M1, he established a comfortable setup which gave him the confidence to push and post a best lap of 1:33,920.

Smith’s time was a colossal improvement from this morning, and less than half a second from the leading bike of Marc Marquez. His top four result on the opening day sees his confidence sky high and well prepared for a full speed assault in tomorrow’s qualifying session, in view to the 28-lap sprint on Sunday.

Bradley Smith - 4th - Time: 1'33.920 - Laps: 37
"After starting the day in a less than ideal way, I am really pleased with what we managed to achieve this afternoon. I am feeling very happy with the bike now, as due to some of the issues we have experienced recently we decided to divert back to the what I was using in Qatar. Therefore, I am confident and I know that I can go fast with it. At the same time, I am slightly disappointed that we couldn’t succeed with our experimentation, but I am excited to continue in this manner during the next sessions. Tomorrow the plan is to fine-tune the setup and then try my best in qualifying to get as high up the grid as I can. Again, I feel confident, am back on the road to completeness and can’t wait to put on a good show for the fans. ”