Marquez sets the pace on day one in Brno after a spectacular save in FP2

Marc Marquez

It was a positive first day in Brno for the Repsol Honda Team, with Marc Marquez the fastest at the end of FP2 after once again showing his incredible talent and instinct by spectacularly saving a possible crash.

Marc was sixth in FP1 after having his fastest lap cancelled due to exceeding the track limit at turn 14, like many other riders. He was able to make a step forward in FP2, aided by a setup modification that improved his feeling enough to lower his time by over a second with a new tyre; tomorrow he will continue working with his team to also improve his race pace with used tires.

Marc Marquez 1ST

“Today was a positive day because we were able to improve significantly from the first to the second session. We’re still not where we would like to be, and although the position is good, the important thing is to work with the race in mind. In this respect, Jorge [Lorenzo] and Valentino [Rossi] have a very steady pace. We’ve been trying out many things, especially this afternoon, and now we have to assess what worked better for us and what we must continue looking at. In the afternoon we were a bit lucky to save a possible crash similar to one I had in 2014 at this same track during a testing session. This one was even bigger because it was very long and my lean angle was about 67.5 degrees. I just lost the front and when I saved it I told myself, Okay, let’s go back to the box to cool down a bit, because I was a little bit excited. It means that we’re pushing hard to find our pace. Tomorrow we’ll see if we can take another step forward, especially in terms of race pace, to be able to aim for the podium on Sunday. If we do that, then why shouldn't we target the victory too?"

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