After struggling with sickness and a lack of f﷽ront-end feel during the first two days of testing at Jerez, Aleix Espargaro lopped 1.5sec from his lap time during a promising final day.

The Power Electronics Aspar riderౠ finished the test 0.8sec behind team-mate Randy de Puniet, but moved back ahead of Speed Master's Mattia Pasini to be the second-best ART rider.

"The first day I was sick,🦹 yesterday was better, but a little off, then from this morning the feelꦿing was great," said Espargaro, returning to MotoGP after a season in Moto2.

"Today we worked a lot on the🎉 front, and succeeded in gaining confideꦦnce. We changed the forks and greatly improved our times. I didn't expect to improve so much.

"I'm leaving 💎Jerez happy. The first two 🍨days were not very productive, but we kept working hard and finally today we received our reward.

"The bike is working better than [the previous test] in Vale👍ncia, and it is important to see that we are evolving gradually."

Espargaro also offered his condolences to fellow S🐻panish grand prix rider Esteve Rabat, following a family bereavement.

"I want to send a giant hug to my friend Tito Rabat who is uꦐndergoing a tough time following the loss of his mother," said Aleix, older brother of 2012 Moto2 rider Pol.