Alex Rins draws first blood at German round, after clocking second fastest morning time. Marquez adapts quickly for seventh.
After an excellent performance in the Netherlands two weeks ago, the Repsol riders were again strong on day one in Germany. Alex Rins and Alex Marquez again showed consistency right from the start, highly competitive on Friday at the Sachsenring. Rins was second in the morning and topped the timesheets in the afternoon, whilst Marquez debuted at the German track in positive fashion; he was fourth in the morning, 6 tenths off Luis Salom’s top time, and seventh in FP2.
In the second session Marquez was up into third with 20 minutes remaining, subsequently improving his times for a final best of 1:28:341. Seventh was a great showing for a first encounter with the tough German circuit.
In Rins’ case, the Spaniard gradually lowered his times and took the top spot with 10 minutes left on the clock. Salom responded with 4 minutes remaining and was the first to go round in under 1:28, but a great Rins lap of 1:27:208 snatched first with 12 seconds available.
Alex Rins >> Audio
FP1 – 1:28.160, 21 laps, 77 km.
FP2 – 1:27.208, 21 laps, 77 km.
“We focused on the bike setup in the opening two practice sessions. We tried out a lot of things and had a bit of luck, as everything went well and we improved our feeling. We managed to get me feeling comfortable when riding fast, so I was able to push a bit harder.
We have a good setup for tomorrow, although I don’t think we will match our times from today in the morning session, considering how the track will cool overnight. I think that we can do so, however, in qualifying, because the team have done a great job so far.”
Alex Marquez >> Audio
FP1 – 1:28.687, 21 laps, 77 km.
FP2 – 1:28.341, 21 laps, 77 km.
“I liked this track right from the first session, although the second sector is rather difficult and I had trouble working out my lines. We gradually improved both my riding and the setup, so that in the afternoon we took a big step forward. We have to be happy with this, as we put in our best times riding by myself. That is important at a new track. Now we need to keep working in the same way in order to have a good qualifying session.”
