Pol Espargaro kick started his eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland MotoGP race weekend in an encouraging manner by collecting a solid 8th place in the combined standings today. The young Spanish rider delivered a strong performance in the morning practice session to finish in 4th place before continuing his positive momentum into the afternoon, where the session remained overly dry despite a few drops falling just beyond the midpoint of the 2nd practice. Espargaro guided his Yamaha YZR-M1 around the tight, meandering 3671 metre Sachsenring circuit to complete the FP2 session with a best time of 1.22,569, which was only just two tenths from the first row as he also clocked fastest speed of the Yamaha YZR-M1’s with 290.0 kmh. His performance today leaves the premier class rookie poised to achieve a promising qualifying performance tomorrow for round 9 of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship in Germany.

On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 garage, Bradley Smith pulled off a determined display in the afternoon practice after enduring a challenging opening session which saw him fall twice without sustaining any major injury, to finish in 12th. The 23 year old remained resolute and bravely remounted to set a best time of 1.22,719, seizing 11th place in the combined standings at the end of the day and just over three tenths of a second from 3rd position. Smith remains confident for tomorrow and is convinced of bouncing back strongly to qualify within the two front rows after what was an intensely competitive opening day in Germany with the top 13 riders all within seven tenths of a second.

Pol Espargaro - Position : 8th - Time : 1'22.569 Laps : 41

"All in all, I am pretty happy with today’s result. The Sachsenring track is a very special one as it’s really narrow so it takes quite a bit of time to learn. My feeling wasn’t too bad from the word go this morning and we were even able to continue improving during the day. In the morning session we lost time in the first two sectors however, it seems we fixed this problem in the afternoon session but then lost time in the opposite ones. Also during my best lap I made a few small mistakes and could have been faster still, yet my pace on used tyres was nearly identical to my quickest lap time. Now we will analyse the data this afternoon and find a setup solution which combines the positives of all of the modifications that we tried today. My feeling on the bike during the second day usually improves a lot so I am already feeling confident even if the qualifying will be a really tight one and I intend to battle for a top position that counts."

Bradley Smith - Position : 11th Time : 1'22.719 Laps : 30

"Obviously, I am lucky to be walking away more or less unscathed from one very big crash, as well as another fall this morning. The only trouble I had was that I reinjured my finger a bit which I originally hurt at Mugello last year, however nothing major overall. Today was a bit tricky for us, we are certainly riding faster than we did last year however I don’t feel completely comfortable on the bike due to the balance not being perfect for the moment. In addition, my confidence at maximum lean angle can still improved. Considering the difficulties which we had to face today, the gap to the front is not enormous and this is really promising because this track is a challenging one due to all of the left hand corners, so it always takes a while to get comfortable. I am convinced that we can progress significantly and take home a strong qualifying position tomorrow."

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