The second day of practice for the Czech GP was not a good one for the Repsol riders, with the best result being Esteve Rabat‘s 15th place. There were falls for both Marc Márquez, in the free and classification sessions, as well as Scott Redding, the former starting in tomorrow’s race in 20th position and the latter in 22nd. Beaubier had worse luck and cannot race on Sunday after dislocating his shoulder.
At the begiining of lap 2 in the free practice there was a problem with the engine on Marc Márquez ‘s bike; the front wheel blocked and the young KTM rider was thrown over the handlebars. Márquez landed hard at the corner at the end of the straight. His mechanics then had to work hard to repair the damage but he was unable to get back out before the classification session. In the afternoon he was able to check the things he had not been able to in the morning and after 10 laps trying to improve his best time his steering blocked on corner 4, a left-hander, and he had to call it a day.
Like Márquez, Scott Redding hardly rode in the free practice after a fall on his 5th lap of the day. The Briton flew off his bike between corner 8 and 9 when his rear wheel lost adherence. He hurt his right ankle but after an examination at the track it was seen that he had no fractured bones and he went back out in the classification session. However after 15 more laps the Repsol rider did not feel comfortable on his Aprilia. Problems taking corners and when coming out of them saw him finish on the 6th row of the grid.
For Esteve Rabat today’s practice finished without any falls but the Repsol rider, who was 12th in free practice, could not improve on that in the classification. Rabat got a good set up on his Aprilia RSA and he felt comfortable on the bike today, but when he tried to do a fast lap he could ot find a good reference and in the end was 16th.
The worst fall of the day was for Cameron Beaubier who fell on his final lap in the free practice after having improved on yesterday’s times. He fell on corner 7 because the rear wheel of the Repsol rider’s KTM bike lost adherence and he was thrown over the heandlebars, his collar-bone was damaged and although it is not fractured he will have to rest until the next race, in his home country the USA, at the circuit of Indianapolis.
Marc Márquez, 2’10.471 secs, 12 laps, 65 km. >> Audio
“Things were difficult today, because this morning on just the second lap I fell and that stopped us from working and trying out the adjustments that we had planned for today. Inclassfication we were always just a little behind the others because when they had the set up more or less decided I was still trying different things out. I had not got the right sensations because the fall in the morning was quite hard and when we put new tyres on to try and go faster the steering blocked on me and I fell again. I hope we can improve the set up tomorrow round off the tests in the warm-up and get a good start in the race so we can be up with the leaders”.
Esteve Rabat, 2’10.239 secs, 28 laps, 151 km. >> Audio
“This morning the sensations I got were not so good and i could only set the 12th best time, but with high hopes for the classification as we wanted to try some things that could work well. But then I lost a bit of concentration when I was trying to pick up a bike to follow because this circuit is very long and in the end riding alone I was 16th. Referring to the bike the engine went well and the set up on the chassis and suspension are good, and tomorrow we will try to get a good start because if I am in the leading group I am sure I can finish high up”.
Scott Redding, 2’10.685 secs, 19 laps, 103 km. >> Audio
“In the morning the bike was giving me some quite good sensations but I had a bad fall and I hurt my ankle and I could not get back out until classsification. Luckily it did not bother me much but without having made any changes to the bike it was always going long taking corners. The bike simply felt different at both the front and rear, because very time I went fast coming out of a corner it was wobbling a lot above when climbing. I had no confidence whe,n taking corners nor when accelerating. We will have to see what has happened because the change in temperature compared to the morning is what may have affected us”.
Cameron Beaubier, not classified >> Audio
“This morning the sensations on the bike were good, I felt comfortable but on the final lap I fell. I was improving my times, riding fast on my final attempt of the session, and on the slow corner, a left-hander, halfway through the lap I was thrown off the bike. I hurt my shoulder and it was dislocated, s o I cannot race here and I will have to wait for Indianapolis”.
