The Repsol rider progresses during his first contact with Moto2 in Motegi and completes a positive day with his sights set on Sunday’s race
The Japan Grand Prix has started and Marc Márquez had a steady beginning as usual in his first practice with Moto2 on the Japanese track. The Repsol rider improved steadily during the two free practice sessions held today, as after 35 laps he finished with the eighth fastest time, six tenths behind the fastest of the day, Swiss rider Thomas Luthi.
To face the challenge of adapting himself again to a track new for him on his Moto2, Marc Márquez and his team started to work on chassis and suspension set-up, to adapt it to the requirements of the Motegi circuit. The Repsol rider focused first on taking new references for the intermediate class and then progressively increased his pace, trying to set consistent laps times.
Márquez completed 18 laps in the first free practice session, which he finished a bit more than four tenths behind Bradley Smith. In the second session, after another 17 laps and constantly improving his pace, he stopped the clock in 1 minute, 53 seconds and 600 thousandths, 598 thousandths behind the fastest time of the day.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP1 – 1:54.231, 18 laps, 86 km.
FP2 – 1:53.600, 17 laps, 82 km.
“This first day went fairly well. We improved steadily and that is the best part. We are not focusing on the position, as the important thing is to work to prepare for the race. We are happy because we were able to ride very fast, with consistent times and that is very important. We will see how it goes tomorrow, but we know we have some areas where we need to improve”.
