Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) underwent his second test of the pre-season with his new team for 2017, and the 24 year old was happy with how the Jerez test went.

Rain fell in the early hours of the opening day at Jerez de la Frontera which meant on track action was delayed in Southern Spain, and Mercado was unable to get some strong testing time behind him.

Keen to continue to understand his Aprilia RSV4 RF, the returning WorldSBK rider has plenty of experience around the legendary circuit. Comfortable around the track, he has secured podiums in the STK1000 class in Andalucía in the past, which means he will be able to understand his full feeling aboard the machine. 

"Today was a good day for us,” explains Mercado, “Despite not being able to do anything in the morning because the track was wet. It was after lunch time when I could go out and the track was still a bit wet - it was not the best - but towards the end of the day we rode well. The positive thing is that I managed to do a lot today, I began to understand the behaviour of the bike and why we were able to make several changes. My feeling has grown although I know there is still a lot of work to do, but I feel that we are going the right direction. I have started to push harder and I feel better and better with Aprilia. Tomorrow I hope to find better weather and a dry track, to continue my work on the relationship with the bike. "

Mercado will head out on track for day two of the final European test, before flying out to Australia for the Official test in three weeks time.