Repsol Honda riders complete a tight first day of practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, with Pedrosa fourth and Marquez sixth.
The Japanese Grand Prix kicks off an intense spell of the season –with three races on consecutive weeks and a chance for Marc Marquez to win the title in the premier class. The Repsol Honda rider had a small crash in the first free practice session this Friday and finished the day in sixth place. Dani Pedrosa grew in strength in both sessions, ending the day fourth overall.
The first session began with a scare for the World Championship leader, who on his opening run fell at Turn 5. He was able to continue normally with his second bike and finished the session in second place, behind Lorenzo. The Italian Andrea Dovizioso also led the second session, in which Marquez placed sixth after 19 laps with a time of 1:45.939. He was 0.359s off second-placed Jorge Lorenzo.
On the other side of the garage, Dani Pedrosa closed the first session in eighth, within half a second of the top time. In the afternoon, the Repsol Honda team rider cut more than half a second off his best time and was fourth ‒1:45.727‒ after completing 18 laps.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
6th, 1:45.939 Sec., 36 Laps, 173 km
“Today we struggled a bit compared to other circuits. We have not quite found the right setup yet, but thankfully it’s still only Friday and we have many practice sessions ahead and things to try out. The important thing is that I felt pretty good and, despite not being totally happy with the setup of the bike, we are not so far from the top. Let’s see if we can continue in this way, improving over the course of the weekend”.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
4th, 1:45.727 Sec., 34 Laps, 163 km
“I think we had a good day of free practices. The track conditions were good and we were able to try out different tyres. In the afternoon we tried riding with the hard rear tyre, but we didn’t use the hard front like others did. We will probably try that out tomorrow. Today we did some runs with a good pace, but we have to work harder to improve our lap times and be very focused on setting a good time in qualifying”.
