The Repsol Honda Team rider finishes fourth overall, after leading the first session of the Thai Grand Prix. Pol Espargaró is seventeenth.
The first two practice sessions for the Thai Grand Prix were held on a completely dry track, under a cloudy sky at Buriram.
Marc Márquez started the day as the fastest rider in FP1. Despite suffering a small crash, the Repsol Honda Team rider continued to take steps forward in his steady return to top form.
In FP2, he was sixth and with a best time of 1:30.523 -set in FP1- he finished the day as the fourth fastest rider overall. He earned a provisional spot in Q2, with rain forecast for Saturday.
Espargaró was consistent during the two sessions held on Friday. The Repsol Honda Team rider finished FP1 14th, 0.0165s off the top 10. In the afternoon, he was unable to improve on his FP1 time of 1:31.007 and was seventeenth on the combined timesheets.
MARC MÁRQUEZ – 4th 1’30.523
“I am very happy today; we achieved our target which was improving myself between races. Today I went out and I felt better than Japan, in Japan I felt better than Aragon – so step by step we are improving. We were competitive with new and used tyres and the progression is there to see. I’ve used a lot of energy today and there’s the chance I have a bit of a drop in the weekend, but let’s see. The rain might help but I am also feeling competitive in the dry. It was also interesting to see the calendar today, I am excited for the new races – especially India which is an important place for all the manufacturers, and I am looking forward to seeing all the MotoGP fans there.”
POL ESPARGARÓ – 17th 1’31.007
“Our situation is pretty similar to normal where we are searching for more grip. We especially need to try and improve our feeling with new tyres for the time attack tomorrow and Qualifying. When we have a lot of grip we can be fast, but we need to find the grip. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, especially if it’s wet we can make a step.”
