Reigning World Champion goes fastest on opening day. Pedrosa places third overall, setting the best time in FP1.
Marc Márquez set a time 3 tenths off the circuit record and 4 tenths quicker than his nearest rival.
Dani Pedrosa, fifth in FP2, went fastest in FP1.
Márquez ran the same tyres throughout the entire morning session.
There was a large drop in temperatures compared to yesterday and a constant threat of rain, although it eventually stayed dry in both MotoGP sessions.
MARC MÁRQUEZ | 1st, 1:39.395
“It was a good day for us. When we started this morning, the track was quite slippery and we struggled a bit but it was the same for every rider, and the asphalt steadily became cleaner. In the afternoon, the second session was a bit strange as conditions were kind of mixed, but all in all we were able to do good work on the bike setup, getting a pretty clear idea about those conditions. It was important to start the Argentinian GP well, but now we’ll wait and see what conditions we have going forward, as there’s a good chance things will change a lot in the next two days. It’s possible that we’ll have a very different track on Sunday, which would require a different setup, so we must keep our focus and continue working hard to be ready for the race.”.
DANI PEDROSA | 3rd 1:40.303
“The track is always quite slippery here on the first day, which makes the first practice a bit tougher. The parts that had been resurfaced seem better in terms of the bumps, but the asphalt was too dirty to really understand what the grip was like. This morning we worked on the tyres, trying to make the best of the dry conditions, as the weather forecasts for the weekend aren’t good. We started the day well, but in the afternoon’s mixed conditions we weren’t able to complete all the work we had planned. We’ll see how the weather is tomorrow, and we’ll keep working for Sunday”.
