The second test day held today at the Jerez circuit has again seen Marc Márquez at his best. The Repsol rider set the pace of the day again, clocking up the fastest time in 125cc. Márquez stopped the clock at 1 minute, 46 seconds and 492 milliseconds, a new circuit record, beating that set by Mattia Pasini in 2006.
The good feelings of the Repsol rider throughout this pre-season, confirmed yesterday with the best time of the morning and the second best of the day; were ratified with a record time in today’s test. Márquez used the joint session with the Moto2 riders to try some different options on the setup of his Derbi RSA, both the tyres and carburetion.
The Repsol rider managed to keep up a good pace, which allowed him to gradually lower his times until he clocked up a lap of 1 minute, 46 seconds and 492 milliseconds, almost a second faster than his best time yesterday. This time is the fastest ever set by a 125cc rider at the Andalusia circuit, shaving half a second off the record held by Mattia Pasini since 2006 (1’46.937 sec.) and the fastest lap clocked up by Julián Simón in last year’s Grand Prix (1’47.057 sec.).
Márquez was also the fastest in the afternoon, being the only rider to come in at under one minute and 47 seconds, confirming his top form in this pre-season. With no more tests left to do on the day’s plan, Márquez spent the last hour of the day riding with the setup that allowed him to beat the circuit record in the morning, completing another 19 laps on both used and new tyres.The third and final scheduled test at the Jerez circuit will be held tomorrow, the last day of action before the World Championship starts on 11 April in Qatar.
Marc Márquez, 1’46.492 sec, 59 laps, 261 KM
“I’m happy with how things are going. This morning we went out with the aim of picking up a good pace and I quickly started clocking up good times. We’ve done some tests with the tyres and the pace was good with the different options and what’s more, Aki [Ajo], team manager, wanted to try some changes to the carburetion to analyse the different options and prepare for possible problems at other circuits. In the morning, I clocked up a very good time and in the afternoon I rode at 46′ again, although not as fast. There’s not much work left to do tomorrow, we’ve got everything fairly clear and plan to do few laps but doing everything right”.
