World Champion tops second practice session and concludes opening day second overall. Dani Pedrosa, fourth on the combined timesheet, crashes early in the second free practice session due to a technical problem.
Just five days after his victory in Indianapolis, Marc Marquez was again one of the protagonists on the first day of the Czech Republic Grand Prix. Second in the first session, the reigning World Champion topped the afternoon practice despite a crash in the final minutes. Dani Pedrosa, third in the first session, crashed at the beginning of the second practice and missed the rest of the afternoon. An oil leak from his suspension forks led to him going to ground, taking a heavy knock to his left ankle.
The first day of action at the Brno Automotodrom saw Marquez make steady progress. The Repsol Honda rider was second in the first practice session, 0.151s off timesheet topper Jorge Lorenzo. In the second session, despite a crash in the final minutes, Marquez improved by nearly a tenth and a half, stopping the clock at 1:56.513.
His Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, started the day feeling good, setting the third fastest time in the first session. However, on lap two of the second run, an oil leak from the forks of his bike caused him to crash. He took a heavy blow to his left ankle that prevented him from going back out on track, but after visiting the Clinica Mobile a fracture was ruled out.
Tomorrow sees the second day of action at Brno, with qualifying to decide the grid for the eleventh round of the year.
Marc Marquez
2nd – 1:56.513, 33 laps, 178 km
“Today was a very productive day, we have obtained a lot of data and we have seen that this will not be an easy circuit. I am fast over a single lap, but I am finding it harder to set a constant pace. In FP2 we finished first, but more importantly we have made a step forward with our pace, because it seems that Lorenzo has a very fast rhythm. This afternoon we got close to him and we will see if tomorrow we can continue to improve, in order to be as close as possible to the top.”
Dani Pedrosa
4th – 1:56.784, 19 laps, 103 km
“I had a problem with the front fork which I didn’t realise until some oil hit the rear wheel as I was leaning over to the right into turn fourteen. The bike threw me off quite violently and I took a big knock to my left foot. I went to Clinica Mobile for a check-up and they performed an x-ray on my left ankle. Thankfully they confirmed there was no break or fracture, just a heavy contusion so I will have some treatment tonight and see how the situation is in the morning.”
