De Palo: 'Positive early days' with MP Motorsport with Italian fastest in Barcelona

Matteo De Palo set the pace on Day 1 in Barcelona, logging a 1:28.516 to lead the pack on the penultimate day of on-track action in 2026.

The MP Motorsport driver topped the times in the morning session and was very pleased with his and the team's work across the entirety of the day.

Reflecting on it all after the session, De Palo said that while they couldn't read too much into times, the atmosphere within the team was already very positive.

"I'm pretty happy because I feel really good with this new team. I think the work we're doing together with MP is really nice, and that's shown today on the timing screens. So it's pretty good to see.

"But, it's still testing. So we still have to work hard for the first race of next season. But, there are really positive vibes. I'm pretty happy about how it's going, how it went in Jerez too. So we'll just keep going on like this."

Diving deeper into the relationship between driver and team, De Palo says that it is a crucial factor at this point as both learn how to work best with one another.

He added that it allows more focus to go into going quickly, something that he was able to show handidly across the opening day of action in Barcelona.

"It's almost everything at this stage because you really have to feel good with yourself and have everything in your control. There are not many chances in this championship, we just got one lap in quali and that's it. So everything has to be perfect."

Looking ahead to the final day of on-track running this year, the MP driver said that he was hopeful of more pace to come, but that focus would also be on race pace and building on the positive work so far across both tests.

"There will probably be more grip, but not that much like what happened in Jerez because there was a race here last week. So there shouldn't be much of a shift from one day to the other.

READ MORE

• De Palo fastest on Day 1 for MP Motorsport in Barcelona

"So I don't know if there will be a big improvement. We have much more work to do but you can't read too much into things, it doesnt count for too much at this stage.

"I just want to take more confidence from tomorrow because this hasn't been the best season for myself, even if was for things not under my control, it takes out a bit of confidence.

"But already from these two tests, I gained much more and I felt much better. I felt like I did when I left FREC having been fighting for wins. So it's good to have this feeling and to race with this feeling."