The Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider shows strong early pace in Spain. Teammate Tom Luthi also improves his times across the two sessions.

In hot and cloudless conditions Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS riders Franco Morbidelli and Tom Luthi completed the opening practice sessions at MotorLand Aragon.

Franco Morbidelli used the FP1 session to understand the Honda RC213V on the fast and technical 5km layout to be in 22nd position. He then used his experience of FP1 as a platform for an impressive 1.7s improvement in FP2 for a best time of 1’48.654 and 11th overall.

It was also a rookie learning day for Tom Luthi who began with a positive feeling in FP1 for 20th position and the Swiss rider continued his focus on race distance set-up for Sunday’s 23 lap Aragon GP.

Tomorrow’s FP3 session will be at 9:55am and then FP4 at 1:30pm followed by qualifying at 2:10pm.

Franco Morbidelli: 11th, 1’48.654, + 1.272, 33 laps, 167 km

“Today I focused on learning the track on a MotoGP bike and it was a good day on track. We are still missing some grip but overall a positive step in preparation for the race.”

Tom Luthi: 21st, 1’49.690, + 2.308, 36 laps, 182 km

“I had a positive feeling right from FP1 so we have been able to do a lot of set-up work but we still have many improvements to make especially for more rear grip. We need to focus on our options for the race distance. The bike works much better with the soft tyre but less so with the tyre for the race.”