The first free practice of the Italian Grand Prix, which took place this afternoon at the Mugello track finished up with a positive sixth position for the Repsol rider Marc Márquez, who, step by step, is recovering his pace and fitness, having overcome the injury to his shoulder. In a session again dominated by the Spanish riders – best time for Espargaró-, Márquez progressively increased his pace, taking it carefully, until positioning himself consistently amongst the top five classified riders.
The sun and good temperatures welcomed the 125cc riders at the beautiful Italian track, who, as always, were the first to ride. The many potholes in the asphalt and the demanding changes of direction are two of the aspects on which the Spanish rider’s technical team concentrated on this first day. The Repsol rider made the most of today’s sixty minute free practice session to try out some different configurations of both the front fork and rear suspension, without finding a solution which would allow him to tackle the technical turns of Mugello with sufficient confidence.
Márquez completed a total of 23 laps on the azure track and, although he topped the time chart halfway through the session, in the end he set his best time on his penultimate pass of the finish line, 861 milliseconds off that clocked up by Espargaró.
Tomorrow, with another sunny weather forecast, the Repsol rider will try, not only to climb in the standings to secure himself a place on the front row of the grid, but also to find a good rhythm for the race on Sunday.
Marc Márquez, 2’00.234 sec, 23 laps, 121 km. >> Audio
“Just as we expected, we have struggled to get a good handle on the circuit. Last year we had some problems and today we are still not too happy with the bike set-up but that’s what Fridays are for: to try out the bike and progressively improve the configuration. Looking forward to tomorrow, we’ll try some other adjustments because I wasn’t that comfortable with those we went with today. The difficulties with this circuit are the numerous changes of direction and the many potholes in the track. We have to do a lot of work to absorb them as much as possible; we’ll keep working towards that. With regard to physical matters, I feel fine and didn’t have any pain. It’s a demanding circuit – even if you are physically well, it is tiring – and so, at the moment, if I’m not one hundred percent , I feel pretty close”.
