Moto2 World Championship leader places fourth in first practice sessions for Dutch TT
Sun and high temperatures in Assen greeted the Moto2 riders for the start of their seventh race meeting of the season, and Marc Márquez warmed up with the fourth best time in the intermediate class on day one. After experiencing difficulties at the last round, in which he placed third, the Repsol rider made steady progress in his search for the best setup for Saturday’s race.
In the first session Márquez rode 21 laps, with his best time on the last of these (1’39.470). That put him sixth on the timesheet, 0.899 behind fastest rider Pol Espargaró. Following this, the Repsol rider discussed strategy and setup in the pits with his mechanics. The Spaniard is looking for the best configuration for his Moto2 machine on both the fast and slow sections of the tricky Assen circuit.
Márquez came out strong in the afternoon, leading the way in the early stages of the run and improving his times steadily. However, some of the solutions attempted based on the morning data failed to have the desired effect, and thus the afternoon information will be used on Friday to best prepare for Saturday. After 19 laps, Márquez’ best time was a 1’39.642 lap that was 0.642 down on that of Espargaró —once again the fastest.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP1 – 1:39.470, 21 laps, 95 km.
FP2 – 1:39.063, 19 laps, 86 km.
“We took things step by step, looking for a good base setting. Over the last few races it has seemed like we’ve been losing our way a little, but here we have started well and have plenty of data and conclusions to take from the sessions. Now we have to try a few things still, but our feeling is good. It will be important to find the balance between setting the bike up for the fast sections and the slow ones, because this morning we had some problems and in the afternoon some different ones. We have improved things, but we’ve also got worse when trying to solve earlier problems”.
