Repsol rider will take off from third row after last lap scare denies him chance of pole.
On day two of the Aragon Grand Prix, Moto2 World Championship leader Marc Márquez had a hard day of work to undertake in both the morning and afternoon. The Repsol rider suffered with the bad weather in the third free practice session, then with a mechanical issue in afternoon qualifying.
At the start of the third practice session for the intermediate category the asphalt was neither wet nor dry. These were the worst possible conditions for riding, but despite this Márquez lowered his times from Friday to stop the clock at 2’07.384 —the ninth quickest time.
Qualifying was dry and the Repsol rider moved up to the head of the timesheet after just ten minutes. He continued to lower his times and became the first rider to breach the 1’54 mark, but was denied the chance to continue his steady progress when he had a problem with his rear brake lever and was forced back in to the garage. Márquez went back out in search of a hot lap, but made a mistake on the final corner when 91 tenths of a second off pole. He ended up seventh on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Weather forecasts point to a dry race for the intermediate class, which is the best scenario for a Márquez fightback.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP3 – 2:07.384, 16 laps, 81 km.
QP – 1:54.877, 17 laps, 86 km.
“The practices went fairly well. Even though my position doesn’t reflect it, I felt comfortable on the bike right from the start. It is a shame that in the end, when we put the fresh tyre on, we had a problem. The rear break lever broke and I had to go back to the garage. We lost a lot of time and I only had the chance to put in one further lap in the qualifying session. Obviously I tried to push to the maximum, but on the final corner I made a mistake and that killed my lap. Tomorrow we will start from seventh on the grid, but the important thing is that we have a good setup for the race.”
