After a summer break spent getting into optimal condition for the end of the season, the hard work paid off for Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and MV Agusta on Friday as he finished the day in third position on the timesheets with his best Free Practice performance of the season.

At the official test here three weeks ago, Torres rode more laps than any other rider across the two days. The Spaniard repeated this strategy on Friday, taking 52 laps around the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve and consistently beating some of the championship frontrunners. The MV Agusta rider was perhaps spurred on by the news that he will be making his MotoGP™ debut next weekend as a replacement for Tito Rabat in the Reale Avintia Racing team – in any case, Torres showed that he is ready to battle for everything at Portimao.

Speaking at the end of free practice, Torres admitted the importance of that Portimao test: “We had a big test two weeks ago, where we worked a lot on electronics and the set-up of the bike. Here we had a good result. It’s important to be strong in the first laps, because after the track becomes too hot and it’s difficult to ride well, it’s very slippery”.

Taking his fastest lap in FP1, the latter sessions were used to understand some components of the MV Agusta, starting with the tyre selection: “In the afternoon we tried our race pace and it’s not bad, but at the moment we don’t really know which tyre to use. Here we have four rear tyres to choose from, and it’s difficult to understand which one has the best performance. Every tyre has good pace, but in the heat it’s very hard to know which has the best grip or slides less”.

See how Torres does in tomorrow’s Superpole 2 and Race One thanks to WorldSBK VideoPass.