Repsol Honda team riders complete two further free practice sessions, with the reigning World Champion in fifth place on the combined timesheet for the day and his teammate eighth.
The second day of free practice for the Qatar Grand Prix ended with Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa in fifth and eighth place, respectively, on a combined timesheet full of surprises at the top. Espargaró, Iannone, Dovizioso and Bautista placed ahead of Marc Marquez who, like Dani Pedrosa, continued to improve his feel for the Qatari circuit.
Despite experiencing less grip on the surface at the Losail track, the Repsol Honda Team riders both lowered their times from yesterday in the first of their two Friday sessions. Pedrosa and Marquez finished in fourth and fifth, respectively, in the opening runout. They undertook various experiments to try and gain further traction on the tricky asphalt.
In the second session, Marquez continued to improve his lap times and stopped the clock at 1’55.446, whilst Pedrosa was 2 tenths off his best time from the first session: 1’55.562.
With the three practice sessions concluded, Marquez and Pedrosa will have another 30-minute run tomorrow before the qualifying session for the Qatar Grand Prix. The 15-minute grid decider takes place at 9pm local time.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1:55.446, 16 laps, 86 km
“The day went pretty well. Besides not being as high up the timesheet as I would have liked, I’m happy because my leg felt much better than yesterday. We’ll see if things continue in this way tomorrow, as I had a little more strength today and less pain. We have also improved our setup, although we still have room for improvement with the bike and also myself. Tomorrow we shall continue working in the same way with a focus on the race. Qualifying is going to be difficult, because the Open class riders have a softer tyre available, but the important thing is the race.”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
1:55.562, 16 laps, 86 km
“I am working on improving everything a little: my one-off lap times, my overall pace, my feeling with the tyre and also my feeling with different fuel amounts in the tank. We are focusing on many things with very little time available. At the moment we haven’t taken a big step forward, so we hope to keep up our steady progress and not to get worse in any aspect. We have chances of getting a top time tomorrow, but I have to work on my fast laps in order to do so. There are riders setting very quick times so far, and I’m sure that the qualifying session will be tough!”
