Cold freezes top rider action at Aragon

During the first day of the Motorland Aragon tests the Pata Honda team measured the track temperature at 1.8°C at one stage; readings so cold they kept the teams inside their garages as there is simply no tyre that can work properly with track conditions in this region.

With anything less than around 15°C in the asphalt there is no realistic possibility to push on and make a proper test.

The prospects of the track warming up with grey clouds overhead were so low that world champion Sylvain Guintoli said he was going to leave the circuit after lunch and have a haircut in nearby Alcaniz, “Temperatures that cold mean we are going to have a nice day in the pitlane today,” joked Guintoli. “There would be no meaning at all in riding, especially as it is wet. Even if it is dry, when you have 1°C track temperature… If you had winter tyres on your four-wheel drive, then maybe!”

At 15:35 a brave Christophe Ponsson (Iron Brain Grillini Kawasaki) took to the track for the first experimental lap of the day, on a surface that appeared to be dry. His team-mate Santiago Barragan joined him on track a little while later, but the top riders remained in pitlane.