Repsol Moto3 riders complete first day of practice for the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic first and second fastest.
With little break after the Indianapolis Grand Prix, Alex Marquez and Alex Rins returned to work at the historic Brno circuit on Friday. After fighting for the podium last Sunday until the final lap, on the first day in the Czech Republic the duo topped the timesheets.
Both quickly adapted to the Czech track onboard their Honda machines and, in the first session, Marquez has set his best time on his penultimate of 16 laps. He was second quickest, 3 tenths off Bastianini, with Rins a further 3 tenths off his teammate down in eighth. In the second session, Marquez and Rins completed 15 and 14 laps, respectively, to place first and second on the combined timesheet. Marquez was the only rider to go round in under 2:08, stopping the clock at 2:07.969, followed by his teammate with a best lap of 2:08.303.
Tomorrow will see the last free practice session, then qualifying at Brno; Rins will try to repeat the pole he achieved a year ago at the track, and Marquez to improve on his second row from 2013.
Alex Rins >> Audio
2nd, 2:08.303, 30 laps, 162 km.
“Today we are in better shape than on the first days of other Grands Prix. I started out more focused and with the idea of setting a fast time from the beginning. This is the ideal way to work, because if not then we have a situation like at Indianapolis, in which we don’t progress in the session and the problems drag on. Today we finished second in the afternoon, with help from the track conditions which were better than in the morning. We still need to refine the setup and work a little more ahead of qualifying tomorrow”.
Alex Marquez >> Audio
1st, 2:07.969, 31 laps, 167 km.
“The first impressions are very positive; I think we’ve had a good first day. In the morning we were ahead on the timesheets but I was not entirely comfortable with the bike. In the afternoon I improved a lot, both with the bike and with my riding, on parts of the circuit that were not quite working out for me. I still have to fine tune some parts of the track, because this is one of the most challenging circuits in the World Championship. For tomorrow, the time we set today is good, but I’m sure the pole record will be broken as is happening at every other track, so we have to keep working”.
