Repsol Moto3 riders start French Grand Prix strong, heading the timesheets on the opening day of practice sessions.
Alex Marquez and Alex Rins were the top two riders on the timesheets after the opening pair of practice sessions for the French Grand Prix, leading the way at Le Mans. The Repsol riders enjoyed pleasant sunny conditions –forecast for the entire weekend– and made good use of the work carried out last week in testing at MotorLand Aragon.
Third and fourth, respectively, in the first practice session, Emilio Alzamora’s proteges improved their times by a second in the afternoon runout to top the combined standings. After 18 laps, they were separated by just 0.041s, with Marquez setting a 1’43.395 best time and Rins a 1’43.436 on his penultimate lap of the day.
Free Practice 3 takes place on Saturday morning, with qualifying to follow at 12:35pm local time. That session will decide the grid for the fifth GP of the season, which starts on Sunday at 11am.
Alex Rins >> AUDIO
2nd, 1:43.436, 36 laps, 153 Km
“Things went fairly well and we have adapted quickly to this track. Now I am starting to enjoy myself and have fun on the bike, but we need to keep working. We have to improve a little with the front end under braking, so this afternoon we will sit down with the team to look over the telemetry. Then we will try to improve some of the things that we encountered at Jerez”.
Alex Marquez >> AUDIO
1st, 1:43.395, 36 laps, 153 Km
“I think that we had a good first day. We took small steps forward, which is important. We are on top, but I don’t feel completely comfortable with the bike. We need to take another step forward with some of the aspects that we are slightly lacking. In general, the feeling is good and we are confirming the improvements made at Aragon. We still have a few sessions to go and the track grip will change a lot this weekend, because today it wasn’t great. So, we will have to be very alert and do our best in every session”.
