Two weeks after the race in Brno MotoGP has gone to a different continent for the Indianapolis GP. As is usual the first out on the track in America were the riders in 125cc, with Marc Márquez once again showing a good level on his KTM. However with just 6 minutes the riders brought their training to an early end as it began to rain.
Márquez felt comfortable on this track a year ago when MotoGP made its first ever visit to the historic circuit of Indianapolis, and today from the very start he was one of the six fastest riders. The Repsol rider led the classification several times and in the end set a time of 1’50.963, 360 thousandths behind Nico Terol the fastest today. His teammate, the American Cameron Beaubier, was 27th, and still in some pain after his fall 25 days ago when he injured his collar bone.
In the BQR pits, Scott Redding and Esteve Rabat had a more discreet day. A problem with the exhaust obliged the Briton to finish before the scheduled end and with the rain was not able to improve on his time, although for tomorrow he has reported good sensations. His teammate had a more complicated sesion as problems with the gearbox and the clutch meant that he was not comfortable at any momnet. Rabat finished 20th but will have another bite of the cherry tomorrow.
Marc Márquez, 1’50.963 secs, 21 laps, 89 km. >> Audio
“This was quite a good session. From the very first moments I was riding at the same level as the leaders, setting some of the best times. I had some quite good sensations from the bike, although I am sure that tomorrow we can improve some more. This afternoon we tried to improve the set up so that tomorrow we can test the changes, together with different tyres, so that we have everything clear for the race. I am pleased because the session went well although it was a pity that we could not do all the laps that we had planned to do because I think we could have improved some more. This was just the free practice and we will have to try some more things out tomorrow so that we can go flat out in the classification session”.
Esteve Rabat, 1’52.998 secs, 17 secs, 72 km. >> Audio
“This was a strange day because when I went out the gearbox was not working as it should. We set longer gears but it did not feel right and I could not ride comfortably. Then we had a problem with the clutch because when I used it the bike lost revs and when I released it they suddenly rose again. All in all we were not able to make too many conclusions, so this afternoon we tried to find some solutions because it seems that the chassis set up was good”.
Scott Redding, 1’51.788 secs, 20 secs, 84 km. >> Audio
“Things did not go too bad, in the first half of the session the exhausrt broke a little but when it was changed and we put a new tyre on we were immediately a second faster. Just then it began to rain so we could not improve anyhting else. We were unlucky with the exhaust and I hope that tomorrow we can ride in the dry so that we can finish what we started today and get a good result. The circuit is not too bad but I need time to change direction – from left to right – so we will have to work on that”.
Cameron Beaubier, 1’53.966 secs, 20 secs, 84 km. >> Audio
“It took me some to to get started although things slowly got better. In my final period on the track I think we improved the set up, I felt comfortable and I had someone to follow but then it began to rain and I could not improve anymore. I suffered a little but I think that tomorrow I will do better. I hope that in free practice I can follow some of my rivals and get my confidence back so that I can get nearer the leaders. This is a very difficult circuit because the track changes a lot at different points of the circuit, and you have to ride very carefully”.
