Marquez and Pedrosa begin action at Silverstone

2018-08-24 12:58
One can always rely on British weather to have a say in the day’s plans, but luckily enough, today at Silverstone the rain waited to fall until just after the end of the MotoGP FP2 session. That being the case, the Repsol Honda riders had two dry sessions to make their first steps on the newly resurfaced circuit and start their work for Sunday’s 1 p.m. British GP.

Following his usual work path, Marc Marquez spent the entire morning session on the same set of tyres, recording the 10th fastest time before moving up to fourth overall in the afternoon stint.

Dani Pedrosa also improved his speed over the day, reducing his gap to the top by over a second, though he moved up just two positions, from his morning 17th place to 15th at day’s end.

Marc Marquez
4TH 2'01.529
“I’m very happy with today’s final outcome because this morning we didn’t have the best start to the weekend; I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike and also had a small slide that didn’t help. We struggled with the bumps, wind and new asphalt because last year’s base setup wasn’t working so well anymore. We did a recheck of everything and made a huge step from FP1 to FP2. We understood the direction to follow, which is very positive; the team has done a great job. We must continue this way tomorrow as there are a few things we have to improve further, but the important thing is that we’re right there again, not far from the top. Tomorrow we’ll try to get a front-row start, but if that’s not possible, we must do not worse than the second row because with a high chance of rain on Sunday, it will be important to start near the front.”

Marc Marquez
Dani Pedrosa
15TH 2'02.864
"I hoped to have a better feeling on the new asphalt but unfortunately there still some bumps on the track, and with the addition of some wind, the bike was moving around quite a lot. We actually made an improvement in the afternoon and recovered up to a top-10 place, but at the very end of the session, we didn’t make that final step that would have allowed us to keep it. Tomorrow we’ll try to improve the bike’s setup further and also work on tyre choice, as we have an extra spec here that we need to test.”

Dani Pedrosa
Combined Free Practice Times
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1
DOVIZIOSO
Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team 2'01.385
2
CRUTCHLOW
Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda 2'01.390 / 0.005
3
VINALES
Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2'01.446 / 0.061
4
MARQUEZ
Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team 2'01.529 / 0.144
5
LORENZO
Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Team 2'01.782 / 0.397
6
MILLER
Jack 43 AUS Alma Pramac Racing 2'01.819 /

Source: Honda Racing Corporation

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