The second day`s practice scheduled for the Circuito Ricardo Tormo de Cheste today, were once again very valuable for the Team Repsol KTM riders. Julián Simón, after getting the bike more to his liking was among the few riders to get under 1’36; continuing along the lines of the work he did with his team yesterday, and ended on the theoretical front row of the grid in this session.
The Repsol rider increased his speed gradually, and beat the best time he set yesterday by two tenths of a second. Today`s work was based around tyre tests, as well as on different set ups that let the Spanish rider get a accustomed to the different reactions of the motorbike.For Marc Márquez, progress is still very positive, because today he was almost one second faster than yesterday. The Repsol rider has made good progress, not only with his speed, but he also has more self-confidence. He is getting better step-by-step, without going too fast but managing to ride more relaxed and more sure of himself. Today Márquez was working on the suspension, because when the tyres lose a bit of tread he had more difficulties lining the bike up for curves and riding comfortably.
Tomorrow he will start with the same set up that the technicains decided to use at the end of the session, that is to say, raising the rear end a little since it seems that this is the right way to go about achieving the best set up. Tomorrow is the final day of practice in Valencia, a day that Márquez will take advantage of to do a race simulation of some 20 laps.
Julián Simón, 1’35.753 secs, 54 laps
“Today we carried on trying new things, along the same lines as yesterday. We tried different set ups so as to get the bike to transmit its reactions to me better, above all the front and rear wheel traction. I tried to understand the bike better when the tyres are a little worn. We also tried new tyres, as well as some modifications on the front end. We tried to go a bit faster and at the end we managed to lower yesterday`s time, which is positive, above all because we were getting close to Kallio`s times. We still have to improve on one section of the circuit, but I think these three days mean that we will know the bike a lot better, make it more competitive, more stable, and make it easier for me to set some good times”.
Marc Márquez, 1’40.877 secs, 80 laps.
“It was hard for me to get comfortable this morning. I had problems with the suspension and going through curves the bike was bouncing around. With new tyres it went OK, but after 5 laps, when the tyres were a bit worn it started bouncing around again making it difficult to control. In the afternoon I think the bike went a little better, although perhaps it was just when we changed the tyres. At the end I did a set of 15 laps one after the other, to see how the tyres and the suspension reacted. The truth is that it went quite well as we set a regular rhythm of 1.41. At the end of this set we tried with the back end higher and it seemed to me that it went better as I set a 1.40.8. Today we did some good work, both myself as well as the mechanics, so I am pleased”.
