A crash at the beginning of the first free practice prevented him from returning to the track until the second session, where he worked hard to finish just four tenths behind the first
Marc Márquez overcame with effort and work the adverse situation he had in the first practice of the Catalunya Grand Prix. The intermittent rain affected track conditions and Marc Márquez crashed just a few minutes into the first free practice session. Due to the damages to his bike, he was not able to get back on track until the second session, where he steadily fine-tuned the set-up of his bike until finishing eleventh, just four tenths behind the fastest time set by Simone Corsi.
A brief shower at the end of the MotoGP practiced forced the riders to be cautious in their first contact with the Catalunya Circuit, even Márquez did the first lap with wet tyres. However, with the track apparently dry, the Repsol rider got out on track again with slick tyres and, in his second lap, was thrown out of the bike at the end of the Resol corner. When he went back to the garage, the team was not able to repair the damages to his bike and the Repsol rider had to wait until the afternoon to continue with his work.
In the second free practice session, Márquez and his team were determined to recover the time lost. After several runs to make changes in the set-up and in the tyre choice, the Repsol rider was able to progress steadily. In the end, Márquez completed 18 laps with a fastest time of 1 minute, 47 seconds and 857 thousandths.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP1 – 1:51.305, 3 laps, 14 km.
FP2 – 1:47.857, 18 laps, 77 km.
“The weekend did not start very well for us; I crashed in the morning, maybe due to my being overconfident, but luckily I was not injured. I have to apologize to the team because it was my mistake. In the afternoon the weather was good and we were able to improve. At the beginning we were very cautious and then we pushed a bit more. We were able to get a good set-up, although we can still improve in many areas, but we found the way and the pace after the break. I think we have to follow our usual working line, focus in getting a good set-up for the race and see how it goes tomorrow, how is the weather, although it seems that it will be changeable. What is clear is that we will do our best”.
