First day of a two-day test session for Althea Racing Team at the “Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo” in Valencia. Just two days after the good results reached during Portimao tests, Althea team continues testing in preparation for the new season. In Valencia Carlos Checa and Shakey Byrne continued focusing on the bike settings and finding the perfect set-up. Unfortunately, rain and cold temperatures conditioned the first day of testing. Both riders finished only few laps in the morning while in the afternoon Checa and Byrne took the decision, together with their technicians, to sit the session out because the track’s conditions (asphalt temperature was only 3° C) wouldn’t have made the session a successful one. The team will remain in Valencia tomorrow, hoping for better weather conditions. Carlos Checa : “The weather really impeded us today. It’s really very cold and because of the rain the track was wet. With these conditions we wouldn’t have achieved any fast laps and it’s useless to continue any kind of testing. We have quite a bit of work to do so hopefully tomorrow will be dry and less cold.” Shane Byrne :” You can’t get too much out of a test like that when it is that cold and wet. This morning I finished only six laps while we did no laps at all in the afternoon. We hope and expect to have good weather tomorrow to continue to work on the bike and to test some different settings”.