World Champion leads two practice sessions on Friday. Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa places fifth in the overall timesheet for the day.
The first day of practice for the Valencian Grand Prix saw the current MotoGP World Champion on top form. Marc Marquez was fastest in both sessions today, with Dani Pedrosa fourth in the morning and sixth in the afternoon –for fifth overall.
On his first run at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Marquez completed 19 laps, setting the fastest time of the day on his final attempt with a 1:31.296. After another 20 laps in the second session he was unable to bring his morning lap down, with his closest time 2 tenths off, but his 1:31.454 time allowed him to again lead the timesheet.
Dani Pedrosa also started the weekend in Valencia feeling good, although in the final minutes of each session he was unable to reach the top times. After 19 laps in the first session he was fourth, 0.351s behind his teammate. Pedrosa put in another 21 laps in the second session, but he set his best time on the fourth of those: A 1:31.895.
Tomorrow both have two further free practice sessions to define their setups, before the final qualifying session of 2014.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1st – 1:31.296, 40 laps, 160 km
“The best thing about today was how I felt on the bike. Finishing fastest is a reference, but the most important thing is that the pace was good, and we have been improving and testing things out. This afternoon the track was a little slower, but we hope to continue improving tomorrow. I’m sure that there will be a nice fight for pole between myself, Jorge [Lorenzo], Dani [Pedrosa] and Valentino [Rossi].”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
5th – 1:31.647, 40 laps, 160 km
“Today will did a lot of tyre testing, above all with the front. We tried out three different types of front tyre and rode with the soft rear in the two practice sessions. I think that overall the state of the track allowed us to ride fast, although in the afternoon it felt harder to improve our times because of the wind. We have to work to improve our setup and make a good tyre choice for the race, because the times are tight for both the factory bikes and non-factory bikes.”
