David Alonso and Ryusei Yamanaka will fight tomorrow to get straight into Q2 

The Portuguese Grand Prix kicked off a new season of the Moto3 World Championship with Daniel Holgado as the fastest rider of the day. The Spanish rider has dominated the first day of free practice with a time of 1:47.320. Just one tenth of a second faster than Diogo Moreira, who led the morning session, and David Muñoz, who completes the top three places. Some of the most experienced riders, such as Jaume Masià or Deniz Öncü, have finished far from the best time of the day, but tomorrow they will fight in the last practice to change their situation.  

The Autosolar GASGAS Aspar has started the 2023 season with David Alonso and Ryusei Yamanaka just outside the places that give access to Q2. Alonso, who set the third fastest time in the morning session, finished the day in sixteenth position, just one tenth of a second off Deniz Öncü, the rider who closes the provisional Q2 positions. The Colombian rider was satisfied with his first day as a World Championship rider and will try to improve his time tomorrow in order to get a good starting position. Ryusei Yamanaka has finished his first day as an Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team rider in the twentieth position. The Japanese rider improved his time from the morning session by two tenths of a second and will try to find a better feeling tomorrow in order to fight for the front rows of the grid. 

16th David Alonso 1:48.400 (+1.080): "I am very happy with my first day as a World Championship rider. In the first session we were very active and in the second one I was riding on my own with a good pace. I think with new tyres I could have done a good lap, but I couldn't manage it for different reasons. We have a good speed and we will try to take advantage of it to in order to qualify for Q2. Now it's time to rest after this great day.” 

20th Ryusei Yamanaka 1:48.756 (+1.436): "In the morning we struggled to find the feeling in the front end, but with the changes we made in the afternoon we improved in that area. In the second session I was on my own, focused on the race pace and my riding. At the moment, we are out of the Q2 positions, but tomorrow we have another chance to set a good time.”