Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Pol Espargaro rode to 9th place in the first day of practice at the season finale in Valencia as he aims to complete his impressive rookie year in a highly competitive manner. The young Spaniard began the weekend at the 4005 metre Ricardo Tormo circuit by using the morning practice to confirm the base setup of his Yamaha YZR-M1 with his Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team. He completed the session in 9th position with a best time of 1.32.155. Later in the afternoon, Espargaro picked up from where he left off and persisted with his hard work on the setup for the race on Sunday at the sunny albeit windy track. He finished FP2 by posting a best time of 1’32.013, only 0.455 of a second from the rear of the front row, whilst he also set the quickest Yamaha speed of 327.8 km/h. His start today leaves the 23 year old rider fully optimistic as he intends to snatch a strong placement in tomorrow’s qualifying at the final MotoGP round of 2014.

On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 garage, Bradley Smith closed the opening day of action at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana with a 10th place finish in the combined standings. Smith completed the morning session with a firm ride to 6th where he posted a best time of 1’32.019. Free practice 2 saw the young British rider power onwards before concluding the practice with a 1’32.024 as he explored setup options in preparation for the 30 lap sprint on Sunday. The result today sees him poised to improve his time further as well as leaving him charged with determination for the qualifying practice tomorrow where he will aim for a position on the front two rows of the grid.

Pol Espargaro - Position : 9th Time : 1'32.013 Laps : 43

"It has not been a bad day for us. We managed to improve a lot this afternoon, but I still think we have quite a lot of margin to progress for Sunday. We need to work more on our front setting as the tyre that I am feeling most comfortable with is not the best option for race distance. Therefore, this is not an ideal situation to be in right now, but I'm convinced that after we check the data thoroughly this afternoon, we will find the right direction to try and improve my feeling for tomorrow morning. Fortunately, I didn’t have too much pain in my foot during the day which I'm quite relieved about as I was a bit worried, but now I look confidently towards Sunday's race."

Bradley Smith - Position : 10th Time : 1'32.019 Laps : 42

"The opening day of practice in Valencia went quite well for me and there are plenty of positives to take. We tried a lot of different options, particularly in the afternoon practice session as we had already established a solid base setup in the morning which I completed in 6th. It was a strong start and so we continued to explore different options in FP2 as we aimed to improve further. We have a good understanding of what we need to do to reduce the lap times tomorrow and we certainly found a good direction. The Yamaha is running very well here and is really consistent which I am pleased with. In addition, I rode my lap time on used tyres that had run almost race distance. Overall, I am feeling optimistic at the moment and we will continue our work to close the gap even more to the top six."

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