Marquez second and Pedrosa third on starting grid for final round of 2015 season.
Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa took a step forward on the second day of practice for the Valencian Grand Prix, for which they managed to qualify on the front row of the grid. The reigning World Champion finished second in the final qualifying session of the season, followed by Pedrosa just 0.017s behind in third. Jorge Lorenzo took pole position.
In the two free practice sessions, the Repsol Honda Team riders improved their feeling from yesterday. Marquez was third in FP3 and in FP4 he led the way, although he failed to repeat this performance in the qualifying session. In with a chance of pole position after a first brilliant lap –in which he stopped the clock at 1:30.499– he was unable to improve his time on his following two runs. He eventually ended the session in second position.
Pedrosa was sixth and third, respectively, in Saturday’s free practice sessions, and set a 1:30.505 time in qualifying. That allows him to take off from third on the grid tomorrow.
The eighteenth and final race of the 2015 season will take place tomorrow at 2pm local time, with the Repsol Honda Team looking to end the campaign with another victory.
Marc Marquez
2nd – 1:30.499, 43 laps, 172 km
“It’s all very close on the time sheets with regards to race pace and I think it will be a tough race tomorrow; there is not much between us. We need to see what happens with the tyres and how the bike responds after ten consecutive laps. We are on a par with Dani and Jorge and I will try to get on the podium and hope to fight for victory at this last race of 2015!”
Dani Pedrosa
3rd – 1:30.516, 47 laps, 188 km
“We’ll see how it tomorrow goes and hope to be in the fight for the victory. Yesterday we had some problems but today we took a step forward and are in better shape. We’ll have to start the race very focused and I’m looking forward to racing at this track, in front of the home fans. I’ll push 100% because it is sure to be a hotly contested race; Marc and Jorge have a strong pace so let’s hope for a good race!”
