The Repsol Honda Team rider finishes the opening day in Portugal eleventh, with teammate Álex Márquez eighteenth
The first day of Free Practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix ended positively for Stefan Bradl. The Repsol Honda Team rider set the 10th fastest time in FP1 and, in the afternoon session, placed 11th, just 0.0021s outside the Top 10. Bradl set a best time of 1:39.909.
Álex Márquez was able to get into the Top 15 in the first session of the day, but was unable to improve in the afternoon and ended the day with the 18th fastest time, less than a second off the top spot.
The MotoGP rookie took the opportunity to adapt to the track which he had ridden at with a Honda RC213V-S back in October. He rounded off the day with a best time of 1:40.338.
ÁLEX MÁRQUEZ – 18th 1′.40.338
“From the test before we were able to learn the layout of the track but when you come here on a MotoGP bike it’s completely different. All the markers from turning and braking are new, and we spent a lot of FP1 working on finding the correct line because we did not really have any references. It’s a fun circuit with some difficult sections to master, but I enjoyed it today. With four front and four rear tyre options there was a lot of work to do, but I feel good after today even if our position isn’t the best. For tomorrow we need to make a step in the morning.”
STEFAN BRADL – 11th 1’39.909
“I got up to speed very quickly and had a good feeling on the bike. We had two strong sessions today while trying to understand the options we have for the weekend. I’m happy with how today went but tomorrow it will be important, I think we can aim to get into Q2. It was a good feeling to see P1 on my pit board, the feeling and speed has improved with each weekend. It’s a very special track, unique and a lot of points to make a difference.”
