Positive second day of practice for Repsol Honda team riders at Catalan GP, with Marquez occupying the top position on the starting grid and Pedrosa in third.
Marc Marquez took his third pole position of the season on Saturday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the 61st of his career. It came on a sad day, with the paddock still reeling from the loss of Moto2 rider Luis Salom in an accident on Friday. The incident led to the organisers modifying the track layout and extending practice time to help the riders adapt, with Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa second and third, respectively in the morning session.
In the fourth Free Practice of the weekend, Marquez was back in front with Pedrosa eighth, preparing the pair for qualifying for the Catalan GP. Marquez set a time of 1:43.589 to clinch pole position, and will be joined on the front row by Pedrosa -who stopped the clock at 1:44.307 for third place.
Marc Marquez
“We’ve worked well, and this morning we had a good feeling, but that fact was covered up because my crash was on the bike that I liked more. I felt very comfortable in FP4, with a good pace when using race tyres. We did a very good job and everything together meant that things worked out well. I’m very happy with the pole position, but we’re already thinking about the race. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I want to dedicate this pole to my grandmother who passed away two weeks ago and to Luis Salom.”
Dani Pedrosa
“I’m very happy with a place on the front row; it’s important for me because I had been trying for it all season. Tomorrow we’ll use the new chassis that we’ve been trying here over these two days, and we’ll have to figure out which are the best tyres to have a good race. Today I tried to do my best on the bike to improve in all aspects and in every section, but obviously the last sector is new and it tests the ability of each rider to learn a track quickly. In any case, it certainly is a difficult part. In qualifying I made a few mistakes here and there, although fortunately I was able to get a spot on the front row. Anyway I don’t want to forget what happened yesterday, I knew Luis and his family well, as I started racing with him long time ago with the minibikes at Mallorca. He was a strong and positive guy I will never forget him.”
