The Repsol rider enjoys an ascendant progression during the four practice sessions
A perfect day for Marc Márquez at the Czech Republic. After cautiously facing his return to activity yesterday after the summer break, today the Repsol rider was the fastest both in the third free session and in the Qualifying. Márquez set his fourth pole position of the season, the third consecutive.
This morning he already showed from the beginning that, once he recovered his competitive pace and adapted his riding style with the Moto2 to the demanding Czech track, the Spanish wanted to do his best again in Brno. In the third free session, Márquez completed 16 laps to the Czech track, setting his fastest time in the last lap. Second place went to the Swiss rider Krummenacher, 30 thousandths behind, and third to the classification leader, Germany’s Bradl, more than half a second behind the Spaniard.
The all-important moment arrived in the afternoon, with the battle for the first position of the starting grid. Bradl started very strong and was soon on top of the time sheets, while Márquez started with more calm and improved his position lap after lap. The Repsol rider’s progression was steady and consistent, improving his times lap after lap until the last minute of the Qualifying. In that moment, Bradl was still in first position, but a brilliant lap from the Spaniard, the last of the 18 he did, gave him the fastest time that will allow him to start tomorrow from the first row of the starting grid. Bradl and the Italian rider De Angelis finished a little more than 2 tenths behind Márquez.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP3 – 2:09.067, 16 laps, 86 km.
QP – 2:02.493, 18 laps, 97 km.
“This weekend we followed an upward trend, which is the most important thing. We did not start very well but in the end we are where we wanted to be. It is crucial to be in pole position, but the most important thing is tomorrow’s race. We have to be focused, calmed and then we will see where we are. I think we will have a group race, as Bradl and De Angelis are also very strong. At the warm-up we will still have time to try some things to ride a bit more comfortable. If we find it, good, but if we cannot, it will not be a very big problem because we have a good level. Until the last time we got on track I could not set very good times and at a good pace, so we will have to work on it during the warm-up, but I am happy because we achieved it in the end and the last laps were very good”.
