Espargaró finishes fourth on day one at Le Mans
The Repsol Honda Team rider sets the fourth fastest time of the day on the French track. Marc Márquez finishes eighth.
Pol Espargaró enjoyed his best Grand Prix Friday as a Repsol Honda Team rider today. After a first Free Practice session held in mixed conditions, he improved his time from the morning significantly and in the afternoon set the fourth best lap of 1:32.137.
Espargaró was less than 4 tenths off the best time, with a good pace and a feeling that is improving little by little.
Teammate Marc Márquez finished the day with the eighth fastest time. The Repsol Honda Team rider achieved a best lap of 1:32.632, less than a second off the top spot.
Marquez continues to work on adapting to the Honda RC213V, whilst at the same time improving his feeling and regaining fitness.
MARC MÁRQUEZ – 8th 1’32.632
“We have had a standard day today, in the wet I feel better because it’s less demanding physically. In the dry we tried a few things on the bike but we are still working to improve our feeling and understand what is the bike and what is due to my physical condition. But I when I came into the box and saw eighth on the timing, it showed we are improving. Today was not about taking risks with the tricky conditions, we can take risks in qualifying and the race but for now it’s about being inside the limit.”
POL ESPARGARÓ – 4th 1’32.137
“It has been a complete day with a wet session and a dry session, my first time riding the Honda in the wet. I was able to finish fourth in both sessions which is positive and the work we did in Jerez has paid off here when we went back out in the dry in the afternoon. Many of the problems we have had at earlier races we did not have, and we have improved our performance on corner entry a lot. But I am keeping calm, it was just one day with two practice sessions and tomorrow is more important. Let’s see what happens and what the weather will do.”
