Marquez leads the way at rainy Valencia, Pedrosa positive at 5th-fastest

2018-11-16 16:14
Almost uninterrupted rainfall marked day one of the Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana, at times hard enough to force Race Direction to red-flag both FP1 and FP2 due to track conditions.

Marc Marquez set the fastest lap of the day in 1’39.767”, with Dani Pedrosa—newly named as a MotoGP Legend—in fifth place at 1’40.467”. Both lap times were made in the morning.

With weather forecasts also showing a chance of rain for tomorrow, Marc and Dani secured provisional top-10 spots that could put them straight into Q2 if rain actually does disrupt the FP3 proceedings.

Marc Marquez
1ST 1'39.767
“Honestly, it was a difficult day because not only were there wet conditions with a lot of water, but also because it was very cold. When there’s so much water on track, it’s a kind of lottery, and the only thing you can do is try not to crash. This situation made things more complicated, but luckily the track here in Valencia has very good drainage and very good grip all things considered, and this allowed us to actually ride today. That said, I felt very good on the bike and was able to feel the limit and be fast, which is very important. It looks like the weather will be a bit better tomorrow, only to worsen again on Sunday, so we need to be ready for whatever condition we may find if we wish to fight for the podium.”

Marc Marquez
Dani Pedrosa
5TH 1'40.467
“It seems it’s going to rain quite a lot this weekend! The track changes when the water increases, and in some points it’s a bit difficult to ride. That was the case this afternoon, so I just did very few laps. On the other hand, when there’s a bit less water, like at a certain point during FP1, you can be much faster. So we must wait and see what conditions we’ll have over the weekend. This will also affect the tyre choice and the rhythm of the race.”

Dani Pedrosa
Combined Free Practice Classification
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1
MARQUEZ
Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team 1'39.767
2
MILLER
Jack 43 AUS Alma Pramac Racing 1'39.873 / 0.106
3
PETRUCCI
Danilo 9 ITA Alma Pramac Racing 1'39.907 / 0.140
4
DOVIZIOSO
Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team 1'40.179 / 0.412
5
PEDROSA
Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team 1'40.467 / 0.700
6
IANNONE
Andrea

Source: Honda Racing Corporation

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