World Championship leader completes first day at Sachsenring with strong times, albeit with a highside in the first session. Dani Pedrosa, tenth, also suffers a crash.
The ninth round of the World Championship has begun with a good feeling for Marc Marquez, who was able to overcome a crash early in the day to set the second fastest time of Friday –behind Aleix Espargaro. Dani Pedrosa also went down halfway through the second session, concluding in tenth place and half a second off the top.
After completing just 4 laps, Marc Marquez was flung from his Honda at Turn 2 of the Sachsenring circuit in a spectacular highside. Despite the heavy fall, the current MotoGP World Championship leader was able to return to the pits and continue with his work in the first session, finishing sixth. Lowering his best time by 6 tenths, he led the way for most of the afternoon runout, concluding with a 1’22.158 time on the sixth of 20 laps that placed him second overall.
Dani Pedrosa ended the day tenth. Eighth in the morning session, the Repsol Honda joined his teammate in suffering a crash –his coming on the fifth lap of the second session. He lost the front under braking at Turn 12, but completed a further 18 laps. He could not, however, best his time from his third lap, and his 1’22.589 top time as half a second off that of Espargaro.
With data gathered today, tomorrow Marquez and Pedrosa will continue setting up their Honda in the last two practice sessions, before the qualifying session that will decide the starting grid for Sunday’s final race before the summer break.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
2nd – 1:22.158, 37 laps, 136 km
“The day went very well, because even though I crashed I was fortunate not to get injured, but the impact was hard. The crash was a little strange, but when we looked at the telemetry later on we understood why it happened. It’s a long left turn in second gear on the throttle the whole time, and I accidentally touched the gear shift lever with the toe of my boot. This engaged another gear and as I was leant so far over – and had the gas open – the rear wheel slid out and I was thrown off. The afternoon session was really good and I felt comfortable on the bike again. l was able to put in a good lap, but most importantly I kept up a strong pace”.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
10th – 1:22.589, 40 laps, 147 km
“We were fortunate to have two dry sessions to test out the track today, it went pretty well and I had a good feeling, but I also suffered a crash. During the two practices I had problems with the brakes, and it was precisely at a braking point that I pushed too hard and crashed. However, I was able to go out again with another bike and continue riding through to the end of the afternoon session”.
