The Repsol Honda Team riders did not make the cut for Q2 and will start from nineteenth and twentieth position, respectively.
The second day of the San Marino Grand Prix saw mixed weather conditions. The first two sessions of the day were held on a completely dry track, but the two qualifying practices featured brief spells of rain.
Pol Espargaró suffered a crash at the end of FP3 when riding in the Top 10, and would not go back out on track. He thus missed out on going straight into Q2.
The Repsol Honda Team rider tried to qualify among the top two in Q1 but, in the end, his time of 1:32.826 put him 19th overall.
Stefan Bradl experienced a similar situation. The German will start from 20th place, on the seventh row of the grid and alongside his teammate.
Bradl finished the day with a best time of 1:32.838.
Marc Márquez made a welcome return to the Repsol Honda Team box in Misano, listening in during debriefs and working with Bradl and Espargaró to understand where the RC213V currently is. The eight-time World Champion was declared fit by MotoGP and circuit medical staff.
POL ESPARGARÓ – 19th 1’32.826
“Today was a day where we had a huge amount of potential but there were finally a lot of pieces which did not come together. We made a mistake with the FP3 strategy, my first lap – which was my fastest finally, did not feel that good to me. The second tyre felt much better but I crashed. In the afternoon I was cautious on my first flying lap and then the rain started, so we were really hurt here. Tomorrow is a new day and we will try our best to maximise what is possible in the race.”
STEFAN BRADL – 20th 1’32.838
“We have improved again today which is really good, we got very unlucky with when the rain arrived and it stopped us improving further. This can sometimes happen and it’s a shame because we couldn’t show our full speed. Let’s see what will happen tomorrow, our pace is better than some of the riders ahead of us but it can be tricky to overtake around Misano. We also have the weather to contend with.”
