The last Grand Prix of the season started at lunchtime today at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, Valencia, conditioned by a strong wind and the dirt on the track. In these conditions, Marc Márquez was the best of the Repsol riders, with the sixth best time of the day. Esteve Rabat and Scott Redding finished a little behind him, in fourteenth and sixteenth place, respectively. Cameron Beaubier also had a good start, finishing twentieth.
The first 125cc free practice session quickly saw Marc Márquez get into the leading group in the category, improving his times little by little. With just twelve minutes of the session to go and when Márquez had improved his times in the first stage, the Repsol rider had a small fall on turn four -the first right turn-, although he was able to get back to the garage, wait a few minutes for the mechanics to check his bike and be back on the track to finish with a time of 1 minute, 43 seconds and 194 milliseconds, 6 tenths off the best time clocked up by Julián Simón.
Just a few seconds earlier, Scott Redding fell in the same place, who like Márquez felt the influence of the wind combined with the dirt on the track. The Repsol rider had started the practice session with good times, consistently riding with the top ten, although in the closing stages he was unable to continue improving. After the fall, in spite of checking his Aprilia RSA and changing the tyres, something must have been damaged, as Redding did feel comfortable and eventually finished sixteenth.
His team mate, Esteve Rabat, finished two positions in front of him, clocking up a time of 1 minute, 43 seconds and 875 milliseconds. The Respol rider came fourteenth in spite of problems at the beginning of the session, and being kept in the garage for several minutes. As the minutes went by, Rabat was able to find the right composition of the tyres for the track conditions and feel comfortable with the general wheelbase and suspension settings.
Cameron Beaubier arrives at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit with the experience of having ridden there the previous two years, and on his first outing with his 125cc World Championship rivals, he quickly adapted to the pace of the category. He finished twentieth, less than two seconds off the best time, and was satisfied with his first impressions of the practice sessions, although he is aware that tomorrow the conditions, both the wind and track conditions, could change.
Marc Márquez, 1’43. 194 sec, 24 laps, 96 km. >> Audio
“The first practice sessions didn’t go too badly, but they weren’t all that good. Finishing sixth on the first day isn’t a bad result, considering the conditions of the track and the how windy it was, but I’m sure that the times will improve a lot tomorrow. At least I hope so, because the wind makes it a little more difficult to clock up fast laps and it would be good to have practices sessions with the weather on our side. However, the set up is correct; although some aspects still need improving, we have started along the right line. We’ll try and improve a little more for tomorrow, but I’m sure that the times will come down”.
Esteve Rabat, 1’43.875 sec, 22 laps, 88 km. >> Audio
“Today, the track was really dirty and it was also very windy, that’s why everyone’s times have been quite high. At the start of the practice session, we had a few problems with the engine, which doesn’t work well will a high number of laps. I had to go back to the garage a few times, losing a few minutes, because the gearbox was also a little too long, especially at the end of the straight. We lost a lot of time at this point. As regards the front tyre, we set up a soft composition, due to the dirty track and temperature conditions, but it didn’t work as well as expected and we switched back to the hard tyre we always use. It has been a useful practice session because we saw many things that we can resolve for tomorrow”.
Scott Redding, 1’43.94 sec, 24 laps, 96 km. >> Audio
“At the beginning of the practice session, the engine worked well and the wheelbase set up wasn’t bad, although we’ll try to improve it a little. The main problem was the dirt on the track and the strong wind. I tried to ride fast, improving my times little by little, until on turn four, the first right, I fell. I had to go back to the garage, check the bike and go back on the track to do a few more laps, but then the back wheel was bouncing a lot. We couldn’t find out what it was, so we are going to look at it now, although in general it’s been a good practice session”.
Cameron Beaubier, 1’44.436 sec, 28 laps, 112 km. >> Audio
“The track was really slippery due to all the dirt, and the wind was a bit of a problem. At the beginning we tried narrower tyres, 115mm, and they went well on most of the circuit, but in the end we tried the 120 mm and got a lot more grip. I felt comfortable and although the times were not very good, because the track didn’t allow us to push it much further, I was riding faster and faster. The set up is good, although I need to finish working on some points, especially at the end of the circuit, to move forward a step”.
