Tremendous heat, humidity and wind welcomed the Repsol riders to the small Republic of San Marino. In the first free practice Esteve Rabat and Scott Redding started out cautiously working on the set up for their Aprilia RSAs. Marc Márquez had a good session riding among the fastest ten until 5 minutes from the end when he was obliged to stop because of electrical problems affecting the fuel pump. His teammate`s first visit to the San Marino circuit was more complicated, as Cameron Beaubier finished well down the field in 29th place.
As is usual the first practice session was done on a dirty track and this stopped the riders setting good times, but as the riders got used to the conditions and they cleaned the asphalt times began to get faster, but far off those set last year. However, the biggest conditioner was the strong wind, above all on the fast corners where the constant gusts had to be kept in mind.
In these conditions Márquez gradually improved, getting among the fastest in this category whilst he worked on adapting the set up on his KTM to the Misano track. The Repsol rider did not get an optimal set up on the front wheel and so could not take corners with confidence, and when he finally managed to lower his times he had to stop because of electrical problems affecting the fuel pump, he could not return to the track to continue improving.
His teammate Cameron Beaubier had a more difficult time, on the track in San Marino track for the first ever time he finished towards the back of the field, a little over 3 seconds behind today`s best time set by Bradley Smith. Beaubier continued to learn and at the same time he found himself in a much better physical condition after his shoulder injury, and even though it still bothered him at some points, he was able to concentrate on finding the best lines to take on each corner of the circuit.
After the difficulties experienced in Indianapolis the BQR pits ended the practice with optimism as Esteve Rabat finished 12th and Scott Redding 15th. Far from the results that they themselves demand the Repsol riders started out cautiously at Misano so that they could, step by step, get a good set up on the suspension and try out tyres with different widths to see which suited the demands of this circuit best.
Marc Márquez, 1’46.991 secs, 19 laps, 80 km. >> Audio
“I am not too pleased because I did not finish in the position where I would have liked to have been, but this is just the first free practice, and we still have to improve the set up. We can get quite a bit better, and so can I out on the track, above all by improving the lines I take. At the end we had a small electrical problem with the fuel pump, and that is what allowed us to lower the times. I could have done a bit better but a practice is the time to try things out, and spot mistakes. It is better for the problems to appear now than in classification or in the race”.
Esteve Rabat, 1’46.396 secs, 25 laps, 106 km. >> Audio
“It was very hot during this session and you get very tired so it is important to stay hydrated. Whatever, I like this track because you do a lot of braking. I finished 12th but not too far behind the leaders. We have to set some changes on the gears and the suspension, but little else. It was very windy, more than normal, and you noticed that on some straights, where you braked and on some corners where it blew you off”.
Scott Redding, 1’46.561 secs, 23 laps, 97 km. >> Audio
“This time the engine did not break so we can say we have got off to a good start. But the engine was not working as well as it usually does, because some riders, even wild-cards, were able to overtake me easily. We were going flat out but we have to change some things so that we can ride more comfortably. Anyway the main problem is the weather because it is very hot and very humid”.
Cameron Beaubier, 1’48.590 secs, 26 laps, 110 km. >> Audio
“Things did not go too well because I had a lot of problems getting a good pace. When I tried to follow other riders I made a lot of mistakes so I hope that tomorrow things will go a lot better, I had a lot of problems finding a good line and turning well. I had the worst time in the zones with very tight corners, where I went best was the fast part towards the end. I like the circuit quite a lot so I have to find a way to go faster and follow the other riders”.
