The Repsol rider, still a long way off the record he clocked up in the pre-season, is among the fastest in 125cc on the first day of the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Motorcycling World Championship returns to Europe yet another year and it does so at the always spectacular Spanish Grand Prix, held at the Jerez circuit. The 125cc riders were the first to get back into action after the long break due to the cancellation of the Japanese Grand Prix, so the riders had not been back in the saddle of their bikes since the Qatar race at the beginning of April.
After proving extremely fast in the winter tests held at this circuit last March – 1´46.492 sec – Márquez has again proven this afternoon that he has a very quick pace at this circuit. Just ten minutes before the end and running fourth on the timesheets – behind fellow Spaniards Vázquez, Espargaró and Terol -, Márquez clocked up a best time of 1´47.448 sec, allowing him to top the timesheets until the last minute. During the last minute of the free practice, Espargaró beat the Repsol rider by barely one-tenth, knocking Márquez down into second place.
The track conditions in this first practice – very dirty and with little grip – prevented the riders from clocking up similar times to those clocked up during the pre-season. However, the feelings of the Repsol rider were very good and he trusts that he will be able to up the pace even more tomorrow. Aware of the importance of the durability of the tyres during the race on the abrasive Andalusian track, Márquez spent a good part of the practice session analysing the performance of his machine on worn tyres.
Progressing step-by-step, the Repsol rider finished the session happy with the work done and tomorrow he will battle to secure a leading position in the qualifier, which will allow him to tackle the race without any complications on the starting grid.
Marc Márquez, 1’47.448 sec, 20 laps, 88 KM. >> Audio
“We a still a little bit far from the times we clocked up during pre-season, but that’s normal in the first practice because the track was not completely clean. I think that we have to be pleased because the feelings on the bike are very good. We did quite a few laps using the same tyres to test their durability because it will be an important factor in the race. At the end, I put on a new tyre but came across quite a lot of traffic on the track and couldn’t improve further. However, I rode at 1 minute, 47 seconds and 4-tenths, which is not bad at all. Tomorrow, we will continue along the same line because we are happy with how things are going, working step-by-step. I think that we can have a good qualifier but Sunday will be the most important”.
