The first day saw clear blue skies and temperatures approaching 20 degrees - a perfect start to the three-day test. With a lot of time available, Troy only began work halfway through the day, but nevertheless found no difficulty getting down to respectable lap times.

Troy - "I was using the same bike I raced in the final race of last season, with an engine one step behind. But I managed a best lap of 1:45.1 on race tyres, which was only a tad off the day's best time which was done (by Gregorio Lavilla) on qualifiers, so I'm pretty happy. It's my first time here on the Aprilia, so to go so well so soon is pretty encouraging.  Jerez is quite good for testing. It's got a variety of different corners and because it's quite bumpy it gives the suspension a good work out as well. We'll start trying out a few newer things tomorrow and see how it goes, but it's good to have such a positive start to a test."