First free practice session takes place on dry track, second on wet surface after intense storm. Rins places fourth and Marquez eighteenth after morning crash.
There were mixed weather conditions at the opening day of practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. In the morning, the Moto3 riders were treated to a dry track, with wet riding the order of the afternoon. Alex Rins set the fourth fastest time on the dry surface, whilst teammate Alex Marquez suffered a small crash which set back his setup preparation and relegated him to eighteenth.
Just ahead of the second session, a heavy storm washed out the Malaysian circuit and left puddles on track, obliging the Moto3 riders to use wet tyres. Slowly drying out, the surface still features damp patches for the entirety of FP2. Riding with caution, Rins set the sixth best lap of the afternoon and Marquez –who only completed six laps– was twelfth quickest.
Alex Rins >> audio
FP1 – 2:15.282, 15 laps, 83 km.
FP2 – 2:16.536, 13 laps, 72 km.
“This morning I felt confident, improving with every lap. At the start we had a little trouble adapting to the track, like at every circuit, but slowly we got better. At the end of the day we needed a little more dry track time, because FP2 began with a completely wet track due to the downpour before the session. The asphalt slowly dried out and we were able to continue working, but we hope that the rain stays away tomorrow so that we can ride in the dry and improve our pace. This is a unique circuit, with as many slow corners as fast ones and some hard braking with the bike tipped in, which makes things tricky.”
Alex Marquez >> audio
FP1 – 2:16.823, 7 laps, 39 km.
FP2 – 2:17.842, 6 laps, 33 km.
“We found things difficult today, as evidenced when I crashed this morning. The crash set us back a lot, because I was unable to go back out on track. Then the second session began just after a storm and the track was not dry until a few minutes from the end. We wanted to try some things out in the dry and find some solid conclusions, but with a damp surface I was unable to ride at the limit. We hope that tomorrow it doesn’t rain and we can find a good setup, in order to take the step forward that we need to catch the top riders. I felt physically better in the afternoon than in the morning, which is important.”
