Marc Marquez and Nicky Hayden complete only wet first practice session for Australian GP, with the second session cancelled after 13 minutes due to bad weather conditions.
In accordance with the weather forecasts, cold and rain provided a miserable start to the Australian GP weekend at Phillip Island. After a first practice session held in wet conditions and temperatures of just 12°C, the second session was first delayed 40 minutes due to the amount of water accumulated on the track surface, then eventually suspended after 13 minutes in which most riders elected against going out. Marc Marquez and Nicky Hayden closed the day in fourth and ninth, respectively, on the timesheets for the first practice session.
Marc Marquez
4th, 1:41.511, 13 laps, 58 km >> Audio
“Today has not been one of the most fun days of the year. We were hoping for a dry day to enjoy ourselves on the bike after the Japanese Grand Prix, but it has not been the case. Although it rained all day, in the morning we put in a few laps –but at the end of the session we had to stop because there was too much water on the track. This afternoon it was also raining, making it dangerous to ride, and that is why the red flag was shown. We decided not to go out because it was an unnecessary risk. Hopefully tomorrow the conditions will improve at least a little, so there will not be as much water on track, and we will continue to work for Sunday.”
Nicky Hayden
9th, 1:43.012, 15 laps, 67 km >> Audio
“Conditions obviously weren’t ideal today but that happens sometimes. In the morning the bike felt quite good in the wet. I felt pretty confortable and was just trying to get up to speed when it started to rain harder; there was too much water, so I came in. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten many laps in today in any conditions but the bike felt good. I also improved my lap times in my second exit this morning when the track was worse compared to the start of the session, so that was pretty positive. Now we’ll just wait and see what kind of conditions we get and we’ll try and get as much track time as possible to understand the bike and the team more. Let’s keep going.”
