World Championship leader clocks fastest time on day one in Japan.
Marc Márquez was fastest out of the blocks on the opening day of practice for the Japanese Grand Prix —round fourteen of the Moto2 World Championship. The Repsol rider was third in the morning session (0.161 down on the best time, set by Esteve Rabat) but dropped nearly half a second in the afternoon to finish at the top of the combined timesheet.
The opening session at Motegi was used by Márquez and his team to look for a setting and pick up pace. The series leader by 48 points, Márquez completed 19 laps —the best a 1’52.285 that was 0.62 off Pol Espargaró and 0.161 off Esteve Rabat, the fastest rider in the morning.
With twenty additional laps in the second session, the Repsol rider continued his habitual steady progress to place at the top of the lap charts. His final burst was enough to knock Bradley Smith from the no.1 spot and made him the only rider to go round in under 1’52. His final time was 1’51.834.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP1 – 1:52.285, 19 laps, 91 km.
FP2 – 1:51.834, 20 laps, 96 km.
“For the past few races the opening sessions have taken place in the wet, so this morning we used our traditional plan for the weekend and tried out some different setups. Motegi isn’t one of my favourite tracks, but I’ve always gone pretty well here. In the first session I was a little uncomfortable, but we improved in the afternoon. I think that there are still some points on which to work tomorrow, although we did a good job today. It is still only Friday, so we have Saturday to go in which we will try and move forward. Then we have Sunday, which is when the championship points are really decided.”
