The Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team rider closes the first day of testing in Portugal eight tenths off the leader, with his teammate Ryusei Yamanaka half a second behind

The riders of the small category of the World Championship face the last days of tests before the official start of the season next week. Spaniard Jaume Masiá was the fastest on the first day of practice in Portimao, with a time of 1:48.416 that only Italian Romano Fenati came close to. The top positions are occupied by several of the most experienced riders in the category, with a few exceptions including former rookies such as Dani Holgado, Scott Ogden, Diogo Moreira and Iván Ortolá. After a first year of experience in the category, all of them now occupy some position in the top 10, in a day in which up to fifteen riders have finished in the same second.

One of those fifteen riders is David Alonso, the Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team rookie, who closed the first day of practice in Portimao with a best time of 1:49.277 after completing 59 laps on the Portuguese track. The Colombian rider maintains the good feelings he already found in Jerez and together with his technical team he has worked on the bike with small changes that have allowed him to continue advancing little by little and to finish seventh in the second session of the day. His teammate Ryusei Yamanaka continues to adapt to the team and finished the day half a second behind Alonso after completing 50 laps. The Japanese rider has worked on different aspects of the bike together with his technical team and aspires to continue improving in the last two days of testing before the official start of the competition.

David Alonso (1:49.277, 59 laps): “We conclude a very positive first day, we came from Jerez with good feelings and we have continued to learn things. We don't make many changes, the small changes we do help us a lot. We have been able to test tyres that I did not have in the JuniorGP to understand them. I feel very comfortable with the bike, with speed, especially when we are working on the time attack. We have to maintain this progression.”

Ryusei Yamanaka (1:49.785, 50 laps): “It has been a difficult start to the test because we have not been able to complete as many laps as we expected due to the track conditions. We have to keep working on the race pace, but at the same time we keep trying a lot of things to get the most out of the test. We have high standards and we will continue working to meet our expectations.”