Marquez quickest in Misano Friday practice

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez continues to impress after posting the fastest time in practice for the San Marino Grand Prix today, the young Spaniard setting a time of 1’34.200 under sunny skies at Misano.

Marquez led a Repsol Honda 1-2 in Friday practice as Dani Pedrosa was second fastest today with a personal best lap time just 0.033 seconds behind his rookie teammate. Third quickest today was hometown hero Valentino Rossi, the Italian rider setting a lap time of 1’34.458 on his Yamaha Factory Racing M1. Aleix Espargaro showed formidable pace on his Power Electronics Aspar ART machine, taking fifth overall with a time of 1'34.732 to be the highest placed CRT rider on the first day of practice.

Weather conditions throughout the day were dry and warm with the track temperature reaching a maximum of 39°C in the afternoon Free Practice 2 session. The fine conditions resulted in all slick options being utilised today and at this stage of the race weekend, the most widely used combination is the harder front slick paired with the softer rear slick option. Track conditions today for the first day of the race weekend were satisfactory with lap times already getting within a few tenths of the current race lap record.

Similar weather conditions are predicted for tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions, with the next MotoGP session scheduled for 955 local time (GMT +2).

Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department

“The dry and warm conditions today enabled riders to try a wide range of slick tyre options and already the pace from the front-runners is quite quick, which is a positive sign. Misano is a circuit where an optimal bike setup is very important to get the best from the tyres, so it was good to have two dry sessions today. At this stage the softer rear slick options are the more popular choice, although some riders also evaluated the harder rear slicks and with the possibility of warmer weather tomorrow, we may see more riders give this option a try. The hard compound front slick was preferred as track temperatures became warmer as it offers an advantage in braking and cornering stability over the softer option, which is important at this circuit given its layout. It was a positive start to the race weekend at Misano.”

San Marino MotoGP: Top ten combined Free Practice 1 & 2 times