The Gaviota GASGAS Aspar rider starts his home Grand Prix in eleventh place, with his teammate David Alonso thirteenth

Jaume Masià has opened the Japanese Grand Prix as the fastest rider in the Moto3 category, which has kicked off another important weekend for the championship. The Spanish has set the fastest time on his last lap and closes the first day of action at Motegi as the strongest rider, with Iván Ortolà and the local hero Ayumu Sasaki following him closely. The other main title contender, Dani Holgado, has finished just behind, fourth, just a tenth off Masià's time. The first practice sessions have been very evenly matched and several riders have presented their candidature to take the victory in the fourteenth Grand Prix of the year.

Gaviota GASGAS Aspar rider Ryusei Yamanaka has started his home Grand Prix on the right foot. The Japanese rider has ended the first practice sessions in eleventh place and with good feelings, just 0.051 thousandths off the top 10. Yamanaka had not finished a Friday within the positions that give provisional access to Q2 since the Austrian Grand Prix and today, after setting a time of 1:57.524 riding on his own, he has achieved it again. His teammate David Alonso has completed his first day at Motegi in thirteenth place. The Colombian, who has ridden at the Japanese track for the first time today, has worked on his pace to learn the circuit and prepare the race. Alonso has felt comfortable in his first laps at Motegi and looks forward to keep improving and to go straight into tomorrow's Q2.

11th Ryusei Yamanaka 1:57.524 (+0.456): “It's always great to ride here, I feel the support from the fans and it gives me more motivation. I think these have been my best practice sessions of the year, I have ridden on my own and my pace has been very good. In the morning I have struggled in the corner entry, but we have improved it in the afternoon. We still have to work on some details in the acceleration, but I think we are on the right way.”

13th David Alonso 1:57.672 (+0.604): “We have had some difficulties to find the braking reference in the first few laps, but little by little I have felt better. I have found good feelings on this new track and I have been able to run fast on the new tyre, although we need to work a bit more on the used one. I have only made one stop in each session, I have completed a lot of laps and I think we are preparing the race well. We have worked on our own pace and we have closed the first day in the provisional Q2 places. We'll see what happens tomorrow.”