Reigning World Champion second in first practice sessions at Mugello. Pedrosa fourteenth, showing good pace and putting in more than 200 kilometres.
Bright sunshine and temperatures between 20ºC and 25ºC welcomed the World Championship to Mugello, one of the most technical circuits on the calendar as well as one of the most beautiful. On the first day of practice, Marc Marquez showed his best form, finishing second in the combined standings –led by Andrea Dovizioso. His Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, was fourteenth, after completing two positive sessions in which he showed good pace and put in more laps than all but one of his rivals.
In the first session, Marquez completed 18 laps with a solid pace, finishing fourth in a tightly packed timesheet and just 0.135s off Dovizioso –who was also fastest in the second free practice session. Pedrosa, eleventh, also performed well during his 21 laps, finishing eleventh and 0.648s back.
In the second free practice session, Marquez was second and 0.164s off his Italian rival, with a time of 1:47:643s after 16 laps. Pedrosa added another 18 laps and ended the day with a top time of 1:48.435 –0.956s back– to place thirteenth.
Tomorrow sees the second day of practice for the Italian Grand Prix, including the qualifying session to define the grid for the Italian GP.
Marc Márquez > Audio
2nd – 1:47.643, 34 laps, 178km
“Overall, today went quite well. It was a Friday in which we tried several things, especially in terms of electronics to try and improve the engine character, and I’m happy because we have taken a step forward. I’m not yet completely comfortable, but I felt pretty good and it seems that the direction we have taken is the right one. Now we need to put in more laps, find our race pace and continue to evolve to be as close as possible to the fastest riders.”
Dani Pedrosa > Audio
14th – 1:48.435, 39 laps, 205km
“The first day did not go all that well, but I do not think that it is too significant; we’ll see if we can improve tomorrow. This afternoon we had a problem with the electronics on the bike that did not allow us to put in all the laps we had wanted to do, but we will try to fix this tonight and hope that tomorrow we can finish higher up in preparation for the race.”
