There were 25 minutes remaining of the second free practice session of the day, he had just completed two laps when, on the third and in a heavy downpour of rain, Marc Márquez suffered a minor and unlucky fall. The Repsol rider walked away from the incident unharmed – a low-speed, non-dangerous fall -, but his bike was damaged in the fall and Márquez was not able to go out again for the rest of the session.
The morning greeted the World Championship paddock with a sky full of black clouds, relentless rain, fog and low temperatures, a huge contrast to the sunny day of yesterday. In the morning, the 125cc riders went out to ride in more or less acceptable conditions in so much as the amount of water sitting on the asphalt of Estoril but, halfway through the session, the rain started to fall more heavily, forcing the cancellation of the MotoGP morning practice.
In this first free practice session, Marc Márquez opted to not take unnecessary risks – seeing the condition of the track – and only completed five laps, setting his best time on the fourth which placed him in fifth position on the timesheets for this first free practice session.
In the second free practice session, this afternoon, Márquez was only able to complete two laps of the Portuguese track as, during the third lap and when still warming up the tyres, on coming out of the pit-box, a minor fall spelled the end of the practices for the Repsol rider. On turn 13, Márquez went wide so as not to slow down the other riders and, on riding over a pothole, ended up falling, unluckily causing significant damage to the bike. This forced him to return to the pit-boxes and draw today’s practices to an early conclusion.
Marc Márquez, 2’05.948 sec, 7 laps, 29 km. >> Audio
“Today we haven’t made any headway due to the rain because, this morning we only competed five laps, on which I felt comfortable but, in the second free practice, I did the warm-up and, when I went out from the pit-box again, I fell. The tyres were still a bit cold, I moved aside to let those riding faster coming up behind me pass, and caught a pothole that wasn’t on the normal track. I fell and couldn’t continue but the important thing is that we are alright and now we have to think about tomorrow which I’m sure will be different. I’m not too worried about today because it was free practice. If it had been qualifying, I wouldn’t be saying the same although if it rains again, we have two practices to rebuild confidence. When it rains, this circuit is, together with Valencia, one of the ones with least grip”.
