Dani Holgado places third in Free Practice at MotorLand, while Jaume Masia is 20th.

The Aragon Grand Prix got underway on Friday with the first Free Practice sessions of the weekend. The day at the Spanish circuit saw Dani Holgado occupy third position on the combined timesheets. Jaume Masia worked hard to find a good setup and finished in 20th place.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 duo started the Aragon Grand Prix with a good feeling in FP1. Masia quickly took the top spot and tried to maintain a strong pace throughout the morning, and was still amongst the quickest riders after a stop in the garage. After putting in 16 laps, he finished in 12th position with a time of 1:59.748. Holgado was also steady in the session, including a stint at the head of the timesheets in the second half of FP1. Eventually, his 1:59.187 from his penultimate lap put him fifth.

In the afternoon session, high temperatures hindered the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders’ initial attempts to improve their times. Masia would go quicker than in the morning, on his fourth lap, but his 1:59.559 lap leaves him provisionally outside the cut-off for Q2. Holgado continued with his progress and was a reguler in the Top 3, feeling comfortable on a track he knows well. He finished third with a time of 1:58.830, occupying the same spot overall.

Moto3 qualifying begins tomorrow, Saturday 17th September at 12:35 PM, local time.

Results (Combined practice times FP1 – FP2)
1. Dennis Foggia (Honda) 1:58.507
2. Ayumu Sasaki (Husqvarna) 1:58:677 +0.170
3. Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:58:830 +0.323
4. Stefano Nepa (KTM) 1:59.055 +0.548
5. Izan Guevara (GasGas) 1:59:085 +0.578
20. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:59:559 +1.052

#5 JAUME MASIA

“Today was a bit of a difficult day. I didn’t have a good feeling on the bike and it was a tough start. Now it’s time to analyse with the team to see what we can improve on, and work on it tomorrow to go straight into Q2.”

#96 DANI HOLGADO

“I felt very good today. I have a good pace for Sunday and tomorrow we will continue working in FP3. Yesterday the team and I focused a lot on the setup of the bike, so I hope to fight for pole position. I have achieved very good results here before, so why not target a podium and the win?”