Marquez tops standings on day 1 in Catalunya

Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) went quickest in both practice sessions on Day 1 of his second home Grand Prix of the year, and the one closest to his hometown of Cervera, Spain. With the stakes high and a lot of friends, family and fans in attendance, it was the best possible start for the reigning Champion as he aims to take his second win of the year.

He says he feels good – and had a good base to start from after attending the recent private test at the newly modified venue – and will focus on trying the hard rear tire tomorrow as the curtain comes up on Saturday.

Marc Marquez, P1: "Today I feel pretty good with the bike because of the test we did here and it was the first Friday maybe that we had a good base. But anyway, this afternoon we tried a few things on the bike, on the second run; we saw it was not so good, we went back and put in the new tires. But, we’re feeling good and are looking forward to tomorrow and trying the hard rear, so we can try to understand which one is best for the race. We tried a few things on the electronics and the engine, we tried a different way like in Mugello so we can understand because the pace was good there. It felt a little bit strange, so we came back and everything ran okay, so we look forward to tomorrow and to improve. Of course, the home race is always special and you enjoy it even more than other races. Sometimes it’s too busy! But anyway with all the fans, friends, family here, you always enjoy it more."

Friday Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'44.478
2 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Team Ducati 0.222
3 FOLGER Jonas 94 GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 0.361
4 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 0.405
5 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 0.412
6 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 0.585
7 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.620
8 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 0.638
9 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.640
10 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 0.833
11 REDDING Scott 45 GBR Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 0.897
12 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.987
13 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1.076
14 BAZ Loris 76 FRA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1.277
15 LOWES Sam 22 GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1.282
16 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1.332
17 MILLER Jack 43 AUS Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1.390
18 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 1.454
19 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 1.489
20 RABAT Tito 53 SPA Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1.751
21 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 2.468
22 GUINTOLI Sylvain 50 FRA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 2.524
23 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 3.414