Repsol Honda rider places fastest in opening two Free Practice sessions. Marc Márquez finishes fourteenth.
The Spanish Grand Prix began with a first practice session in wet conditions. Dani Pedrosa was fastest.
Marc Márquez was fifth in FP1, three tenths of a second behind his Repsol Honda teammate.
Pedrosa was once again amongst the quickest and most consistent in FP2, which took place in the dry. He clocked the best time of the session with a soft rear tyre.
Reigning MotoGP World Champion Márquez was fourteenth in FP2, using the same tyre for the whole session.
Marc Márquez, 14th – 1:40.915
“Today we focused particularly on working for the race. Of course if you look at the position, we’re far away, but in reality there are already many positives we can count on. This afternoon we spent the whole session on the same tyres and in the end we decided not to go for a time attack because we were concentrating on trying two very different setups and it was important to decide on one of them. We chose one that has many positive aspects and some that we want to improve, so tomorrow we’ll concentrate on finding the best compromise to get better and better before Sunday.”
Dani Pedrosa, 1st – 1:39.420
“Today we had a good day, positive both in the wet and in the dry. We tried to do as much work as possible, even if the track conditions changed quite a lot during the day. In the afternoon there were still damp patches here and there, but I tried to be fast early because quickly finding a good pace was important. We had two different bike setups and we managed to try both of them, so for tomorrow we’ll be able to be more focused on choosing the best tyres. For sure the air and track temperatures will increase a lot, so tomorrow we’ll concentrate on that and on further improving the feeling on the bike, although it was already very good today.”
