Positive second day of San Marino Grand Prix for Repsol riders, in which Marc Marquez takes the second fastest time and Dani Pedrosa the fourth in qualifying.
Repsol Honda team riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa set the second and fourth fastest times, respectively, in this afternoon’s qualifying session to set the starting grid for the thirteenth round of the season. After gradually improving their times and feeling from yesterday, Marquez and Pedrosa were among the fastest in the premier class qualifying run –in which Jorge Lorenzo clocked the quickest time.
Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marquez was second in the two free practice sessions held today at Misano, with Pedrosa progressing from fifth to third place from FP3 and FP4. In qualifying, Marquez was eventually just one-tenth of a second off pole, setting a best time of 1:32.252. Pedrosa, who at one point was up into second, was unable to improve on his last two flying laps and, with a time of 1:32.434, will head the second row for the San Marino round.
With a good pace in both the third and fourth free practice sessions, Marquez and Pedrosa will be among the candidates for victory in a race that will start at 2pm local time.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
2nd – 1:32.252, 44 laps, 186 km
“I’m not happy with the qualifying session I had. I think I could have improved my time, but sometimes things do not go as you hope. The important thing is that, despite this, we will start from the front row in second and we’re only a tenth off Jorge. Tomorrow I expect a tough race as Jorge, Valentino and Dani have great pace, but we will try to keep in the fight until the end.”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
4th – 1:32.434, 44 laps, 186 km
“It was a bit of a strange qualifying session because I made some mistakes at a couple of points on the track, and could have done a little better. Now we have to focus on tomorrow; we will try to have the best first lap possible and come out strong, to keep position and push for the best pace we can get throughout the entire race.”
