Second day of practice in Qatar ends with Marquez first and Pedrosa fifth, just two tenths off his teammate.
After a first session yesterday, the second night of practice for the Qatar Grand Prix allowed Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa to complete two further practice sessions. The reigning World Champion was fastest in both, with Pedrosa second in the first of these sessions and fifth in the second. A tight timesheet saw the duo separated by just two tenths.
From the beginning of the first session, repeating the trend set yesterday, Marquez and Pedrosa took charge at Losail. The World Champion was the first to go round in under 1:55, to lead the field after 16 laps. Four tenths back, Pedrosa completed the same number of laps.
In the second session Pedrosa dropped two tenths from his previous best lap time almost immediately, moving into second after a surprising Andrea Iannone took the initiative. It was not until the final minutes that most riders lowered their times in FP3, and Marquez claimed the fastest of the day with a 1:54.822. Behind him, Crutchlow, Iannone and Espargaro were just a few thousandths ahead of Pedrosa, with a time of 1:55.024.
Tomorrow will see a final 30-minute practice session to decide the grid for Sunday.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1st – 1:54.882, 32 laps, 172 km
“Today has been a very good day, because we have improved our pace –which is the most important thing– and tried out a few things that have allowed us to progress. We will see tomorrow if the track conditions stay the same or improve, but today we saw times that were very close; I think that tomorrow they will be even closer. The most important thing will be to continue like this and prepare for Sunday’s race.”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
5th – 1:55.024, 32 laps, 172 km
“Unlike yesterday, today we had two practice sessions and we were able to get more of a feel for both the bike and the track. I think that getting into Q2 is good and now we have to focus on tomorrow in order to make the final adjustments to the setup and qualify well for the race.”
