This lunchtime, the starting grid for the French Grand Prix was defined and for the third time this season, Marc Márquez will start from the front row of the pack. The Repsol rider ended a positive day at the French track, improving the setup of his Derbi RSA until he clocked up the fourth best time of the day, four-tenths off the pole position taken by Nico Terol.
The morning did not start too well for the Repsol rider, who during the eighth lap of the free practice fell in turn six, a long left parabola, when he was thrown over his bike after his rear wheel skidded. After a slight error on the track, he ended up in the dirty part of the asphalt and when he accelerated, Márquez’ Derbi RSA lost traction causing the incident, which fortunately, despite being a spectacular fall, he came out of unscathed.
In the afternoon, in the qualifying session that defines tomorrow’s starting grid, Márquez went out on the track as if nothing had happened this morning. The Repsol rider needed few laps to make the top five. Throughout the session, Márquez constantly battled for first place, although in the last few minutes, the traffic on the track and a lack of consistency in this pace prevented him from repeating his performance in the first two races of the world championship.
However, a good result for the Repsol rider who, with fourth place, secures a spot in the front row of the starting grid, when barely three weeks ago, he dislocated his right shoulder in Jerez.
Marc Márquez, 1’44.141 sec, 32 laps, 134 KM >> Audio
“It went quite well and we’ll start from the front row, which is what matters. Let’s see if we can keep it up tomorrow and finish the job with a good race because the team has done a great job; I didn’t feel completely comfortable on the bike but at the end of the qualifying, I managed to pick up a good pace. There is room for improvement because I wasn’t too consistent, but I’m happy because I found it quite easy. We’ll see if physically I can hold up well to the end, without my shoulder hurting towards the end of the race and we’ll try and be up there with Nico [Terol] and Pol [Espargaró], who seem to have a better pace”.
