Cautiously positive about the first day of GP Spain in Jerez

The Spanish Grand Prix is ​​already the fourth round of the 2021 season. After the double GP in Qatar and the first race in Europe in Portugal, the MotoGP circus has now arrived at the circuit of Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain, in Andalusia. The NTS RW team has still not been able to start with the familiar composition because the Belgian driver Barry Baltus is not yet present. He has not yet recovered from the consequences of his crash in Qatar. That is the reason that also this weekend a replacement had to be found and he was found in the person of Taiga Hada. 

The NTS RW team started the first day of training reasonably well today. Of course it is always difficult for a new rider. Team manager Jarno Janssen also indicates this: “It takes some getting used to for Taiga Hada. We approached this driver together with NTS and he has already raced on this circuit due to his participation in the CEV championship. In that CEV the circumstances are of course different than in the Moto2 world championship. It is therefore difficult for a rider to just make the switch. It really takes some getting used to and adjusting for Taiga. However, he is still making progress and we hope that tomorrow we can connect with the drivers right in front of him.”

Taiga Hada confirms that it is really a challenge: ”in CEV Moto2 we still ride the Honda bikes and that is certainly a different story than the Triumph blocks we are on the road with here. I am thrilled to now be part of the Moto2 Grand Prix world and am grateful to the team and NTS for this opportunity. We will do our best to further improve our lap time tomorrow.”

For regular Hafizh Syahrin, the team is looking to continue the upward trend started in Portimao. Jarno comments: “We had hoped to be in a higher position today. Fortunately, we are not very behind on the group of riders, so with some minor adjustments to the bike we should be able to move up a few places.”

Hafizh Syahrin certainly sees that opportunity. He is confident in the team and in the machine and thinks tomorrow could be a good day. After the third free practice, the important qualification is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, in which the starting position is determined.