The second day of the GP de Catalunya began with very good sensations for the Repsol riders, Scott Redding & Marc Márquez, who ended the day`s first practice in second and third positions. But when qualification began the Spanish rider fell and this affected his performance, in the end he was 12th fastest. Redding had rear tyre problems and these prevented him from repeating his fast time in the morning, he starts 10th.
After today`s excellent performance in the free session, qualification did not reach the same high level as both the Briton and Spaniard would have liked. Redding soon saw how his Aprilia bike using the same set up as in the morning, one that had allowed him to ride comfortably and set the second best time, became more difficult for him to control as he suddenly got a lot of bounce on the rear wheel. Perhaps it was because of the very high temperatures or because of a defective tyre, but it meant that the Repsol rider had to make do with the 10th best time, although he is optimistic about his chances tomorrow seeing how he was able to stay among the fastest in the category today.
Lady Luck did not smile on Márquez either, a rider who when he was trying to improve the set up on his bike got worse sensations, and on the third lap of the qualification session fell on corner 10; his steering locked and he was not able to avoid falling. Márquez quickly went back to the pits to repair the motorbike, and when there were 22 minutes left he went back out onto the track, but some adjustments had not been made as the Spanish rider wanted and her never felt really comfortable. In the end he will start from the third row, on a grid headed by Julián Simón.
At the head of the 5th row will be Esteve Rabat, he had a difficult practice and was affected by rear wheel problems. Even so, he has settled on both the chassis and suspension set ups as well as the tyres for tomorrow`s race, something that is even more important with the very high temperatures that are expected. Cameron Beaubier, who is back racing after missing the Italian GP through injury, gradually improved. However, in the qualification session he did not get any really good sensations, making several mistakes, these prevented him from finishing higher than 22nd position.
Marc Márquez, 1’52.616 sec, 30 laps, 142 km. >> Audio
“This morning things did not work out, and so we still had things to improve, and what we tried to do was to test things in the qualification, but when I went out I saw that the set up was not the best because the steering closed a lot. Then I decided to lower my pace, stop in the pits, and before I arrived I had fallen, without knowing why. When I went back out on the track I did not have the same level of confidence and we were not able to try out what we wanted, as we did things in a hurry. And at the end when I wanted to open the throttle, the engine failed a little because of the fall, it stopped on the straight for a few seconds. It was my mistake so I apologise to the team. The race is tomorrow, so I think that we can improve on this result”.
Esteve Rabat, 1’53.120 sec, 34 laps, 161 km. >> Audio
“This was a very difficult practice, because at the start even though things went well we began to get a lot of bounce on the rear wheel. I tried to slow down a bit and follow another rider`s wheel but everybody had stopped and I was out on the track alone. I think it was bit of bad luck, but on the other hand we have seen some things which may be useful when it comes to the race, we tried a different tyre and I think it may work out better”.
Scott Redding, 1’52.536 sec, 33 laps, 156 km. >> Audio
“This morning`s practice went very well. I felt very comfortable on the bike and I finished 2nd, dying for the qualification to start. But then, with the only difference being that it was a bit hotter, we had some problems with the bike; a lot of bounce on the rear wheel. We don`t know what happened, so for my last trip onto the track we put a new set of tyres on, but on the right-hand side the bounce was amazing, both when accelerating as well as in the middle of corners. We will have to analyse what happened so that we can start the race right. It was a pity, but we just hope that it was a defective tyre, and so we can be up with the race leaders again”.
Cameron Beaubier, 1’53.382 sec, 33 laps, 156 km. >> Audio
“Today I rode much more comfortably than yesterday, but in the afternoon I made a few mistakes and I did not keep up too good a pace. I hope that tomorrow I can get a good start, and take a step forward. It was very hot out there and that is why we did not have the same good level of traction that we had in the morning. I think I can go quite a bit faster if I conconcentrate on not making more mistakes”.
