The Repsol rider completed the first free practice sessions with the second fastest time of the day
With his victory of last Sunday still fresh in the fans’ memory, Marc Márquez returned to work this Friday determined to follow the line of work that had such good results in the last rounds. The Repsol rider dominated the first free practice session and, only at the end of the second was Stefan Bradl able to ride under the time set in the morning by Márquez who finished the session with the third fastest time. In the combined classification of this warm first day of practice, Márquez achieved the second fastest time.
At the end of the first day of the San Marino Grand Prix, the current 125cc World Champion was very satisfied to see that the job done in the previous races was useful to face rounds such as this weekend’s. In a circuit with many corners similar to that seen last week in Indianapolis, Márquez’s technical team did not need to make many changes to the set-up for the Repsol rider to feel comfortable on his Suter from the first session. After the first 21 laps, Márquez was running under last year record and he kept working to prepare for Sunday’s race, finishing the first 45 minutes at the top of the times sheet with a time of 1 minute, 38 seconds and 902 thousandths.
In the second session, despite the initial concerns that the rain might ruin the 45-minute practice —as during the first minutes some drops of rain fell in different areas of the circuit— Márquez rode again consistently among the fastest riders. He completed another 18 laps with a fastest time of 1 minute, 39 seconds and 15 thousandths, which gave him the third place in the second session.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP1 – 1:38.902, 21 laps, 89 km.
FP2 – 1:39.015, 18 laps, 76 km.
“The assessment of this first day is very good, as we improved steadily. The most important thing is that we had a good base set-up for this type of circuit from the first moment. I think that is one of the main reasons that allowed us to fight with the top riders from the beginning. Tomorrow we will see, but we cannot relax. It will be crucial to be focused during the Qualifying, as in this category it is vital to start from the first row”.
