Repsol riders place fifth and sixth, respectively, on the starting grid for the Italian Grand Prix.
· Dani Pedrosa, who took three pole positions at Mugello in 2010, 2012 and 2013, will start from fifth place on the grid tomorrow.
· Marc Márquez was second in FP3 and third in FP4 -3 and 1 tenth off the best times, respectively.
· Track temperatures in FP4 and Q2 exceeded 50ºC for the second consecutive day.
Marc Márquez, 6th – 1:47.050 sec.
“Honestly, I didn’t have my best qualifying today. I made a few mistakes and then I calculated the slipstream wrong when I caught Zarco too early on my last flying lap. I had the second-best ideal time, but we didn’t do it in one lap! In FP4 I was able to have quite a fast race pace on used tyres, which is positive, but then in qualifying we didn’t do our best, in part because we struggled with the front tyre, which is a bit too soft. Anyway, we’re not far off with the setup, so tomorrow we must make the right choice with the front and then I think we may fight for the podium.”
Dani Pedrosa, 5th – 1:46.999 sec.
“I think all in all, we achieved a good qualifying result today, because at this track it’s quite easy to be followed and lose some positions. But in the end, I think fifth is a good result. Lap times weren’t extremely fast, maybe because it was very hot and it was difficult to do good lap times. Anyway, we worked a lot with the tyres, gathering the information to make our choice tomorrow. There are several other riders with a good pace, but we must focus on our bike and tyres, trying to do our best with them, to get a good start, to be strong in the first couple of laps, and then to keep up a good pace.”
