Fresh from completing the 2018 Triple Crown at the season finale in Valencia, the Repsol Honda Team was back on track at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit today with its new line-up, which sees Jorge Lorenzo joining the squad alongside World Champion Marc Márquez.
After five days of almost uninterrupted rain showers, the sun finally made its appearance at Valencia today, but it took the whole morning for the asphalt to dry enough to offer good conditions for proper testing.
Lorenzo took to the track around 1 pm, Marc Márquez a few minutes later, and they continued until the rain again put a stop to the action around 3:30pm.
Marc was immediately on the pace, finishing the day second-fastest with a best time of 1:31.718 after completing 25 laps. Jorge completed 30 laps, with a best time of 1:32.959, 18th overall on the day.
Marc Márquez:
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to try everything we had planned to, as the track was still half-and-half in the morning and it started raining again later in the afternoon. So we only did 25 laps. Anyway, we tried three different bikes, starting with the current one but moving immediately to two other bikes, each with slightly different specifications. It was a positive test; there’s still a lot of work to do but we’re on the right path and the first feeling is good. Tomorrow we’ll continue with the same plan, trying to understand the bike’s balance because it changed a bit, and we still have to test the other small modifications. Pre-season just started, so we look forward to improving step by step.”
Standings
1. MAVERICK VIÑALES (Yamaha) 1:31.416
2. MARC MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL HONDA TEAM) +0.302
3. VALENTINO ROSSI (Yamaha) +0.429
4. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO (Ducati) +0.430
5. STEFAN BRADL (Honda) +0.599
18. JORGE LORENZO (REPSOL HONDA TEAM) +1.543
