Marc Márquez rides a MotoGP bike for the first time, overcoming uncertain weather conditions. Teammate Dani Pedrosa clocks fastest time of the test on his first preparation laps for 2013.
After the Valencia GP, the Repsol Honda Team had plans to start work on the 2013 season, beginning with testing on Tuesday and Wednesday. in the bike for the 2013 season. Marc Márquez, who was set to ride a MotoGP bike for the first time yesterday before rain and cold temperatures made it inadvisable, today managed to make his debut today.
Weather forecasts had indicated that conditions would remain the same, but the sun came out in the morning and slowly dried out the asphalt, with the track fully rideable at around 3pm local time. Dani Pedrosa began with slick tyres, whilst Márquez and his team waited in the garage to watch how his new teammate got on.
At 3:30pm, Márquez finally got on his Honda, attracting a huge buzz from the media present at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. Marc completed a first stint of seven laps, with a best time of 1’35.846, on his sixth of those.
After returning to the pits to give his first impressions, the Repsol rider went out again to complete another 21 laps. He finally took a best time of 1’33.403 on lap 27 of his total 28, placing him seventh fastest on the timesheet and 1.81 seconds off Pedrosa —the quickest rider on Wednesday.
Pedrosa’s best lap was a 1’32.322 on his 25th of 30. He used both his 2012 bike and the 2013 model, noting that the main difference between the machines was the weight increase in accordance with new MotoGP regulations.
Pedrosa will now take a few days of rest, before returning to action in Sepang at the beginning of February 2013 (5th, 6th and 7th). Márquez will be back on track at the Malaysian circuit on the 26th, 27th and 28th of this month, continuing his adaptation to the premier class. The reigning Moto2 World Champion will join up with Pedrosa again at the February test.
1st – 1:32.322, 30 laps, 120 km.
“In the end we were lucky because after almost two days doing nothing due to the bad weather we were able to go out on track for two hours and do the basic work we needed to do to have the first feelings on the new bike. It’s been a useful test for me; I started with the bike I raced on Sunday and then switched to next year’s bike. It’s basically the same but with more weight to adapt it to the new regulation for 2013. We had pretty good feedback and now the engineers will check the data and analyse if we need to move something on the bike to better adapt to the extra weight —I could feel it on braking and also on the straight. Now it’s time to relax a little after a strong season and be fresh and ready to start working again in February at Sepang, which will be the first test in 2013. It’s always good to finish the year and the test in front, but even more to know that everything works well and what we need to do to improve a bike that has finished at a very good level in order to start the next season strongly”.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
7th – 1:33.403, 28 laps, 112 km.
“I feel so happy! We waited the whole day for the track to dry so that we could finally try the bike, but it took such a long time. In the end I began to get impatient and the track was drying up so we decided to go out. In the beginning it was quite difficult but very nice to feel the power of the bike! I had a lot of wheelie on the straights but I gradually gained confidence on each exit and got faster and faster on every run. I tried to adapt my riding style from Moto2 because there was quite a big difference. There are many things to improve and try, the front tyre was also very different to what I’m used to but the main thing is that we have had good start and I have a very good feeling with the team.”
