Poor luck today for the Repsol KTM Team 125cc rider Marc Márquez, injured duriing his first lap on the Andalusian track. The weather conditions have continued with their mischief, and the heavy rain fallen last night and first thing this morning on the track and surroundings, has hindered development of the second training session for the 125cc and 250cc riders.
In the mixed early morning session – 125cc and 250cc riders together on the track -, Julián Simón, Esteve Rabat and Marc Márquez preferred not to run, as the track was wet with a few dry streaks, so they prudently waited until the afternoon. In the afternoon the sun dried parts of the track, but some areas were still wet, greatly encumbering the riders’ work. Young Márquez was very unfortunate with his incident, as the fall was at low speed and during his first lap. Márquez left boxes for the exclusive training sessions for the 125cc riders in the afternoon, and was only able to complete two curves. On the third, and with the bike practically upright, Márquez was thrown into the air with such bad luck that he fell badly and injured himself. After a first assessment at the Clinica Mobile he was diagnosed with a fractured ulma and radius in his right arm. At this moment, Márquez is already in Barcelona, where Doctor Mir shall evaluate the exact consequences of the injury and will decide upon the best solution for the Repsol rider, so he can be back in action as soon as possible. Teammates Julián Simón and Esteve Rabat on the other hand were able to ride this afternoon, though both preferred to do so with much precaution to avoid incidents. Julián Simón finished with sixth best time in the 250cc category – Simonelli and his Gilera were the fastest today -, while Rabat was 13th – best time for Italian De Rosa -. Tomorrow will be the third and last day of training in Jerez for the 125cc and 250cc riders.Julián Simón, 1’46.068 secs, 14 laps, 62 Km. >> Audio It has been a positive training session. We weren’t able to confirm the improvement on the handlebars I tried in Valencia, which I talked about yesterday, but I do think that I’m achieving times with more ease. Today the track wasn’t in very good condition, but even so we did it in 45.3, which shows that we have improved with respect to the training sessions in Valencia. I’m happy about that. The team is working very well, they inspire a lot of confidence and they are giving me very useful advice. As for me, I’m looking forward to tomorrow and really hope we can make the most of it, because today we only rode in the afternoon session, and just an hour, at that. I would like it if tomorrow we could start riding early in the morning, make the most of the day, and confirm once and for all that this bike runs well on this circuit.Esteve Rabat, 1’51.126 secs, 16 laps, 71 Km. >> Audio Honestly speaking today was quite a tough day, as it had rained and the track wasn’t dry. We went out and did very few laps, about only fifteen in the whole day; I ran the bike a bit and tried to pull ahead. I didn’t want to take any risks either because it wasn’t worth it; there were still small puddles on the track and I couldn’t risk a fall. Today my collarbone felt OK and didn’t feel cramped, as I didn’t do too many laps. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow and we can have a complete session.Marc Märquez, a fall on the first lap >> Audio Today when we arrived at the circuit it was all wet, as it had been raining during the night. We decided to wait and see if it dried out, but it rained again halfway through the morning. We finally decided to take to the track in the afternoon do the running-in of the bike, but during the first lap on the third curve, when I changed gears, the engine didn’t respond, then suddenly reacted and I fell. I was riding slow, but I fell on my hand in a bad position. We’ll see what Doctor Mir says and how long we’ll have to wait until I’m recovered.
