Marquez tops opening practice in Valencia

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez put the Malaysian GP behind him by topping FP1 at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valencia. The Spaniard set a 1’31.250, just over a second off his own Pole Record from last season (1’30.237), in sunny and dry conditions (Track temp. 22ËšC) at the Comunitat Valenciana – Ricardo Tormo circuit. Marquez once again showed off his skill, as he pulled off a remarkable save at turn 8 in the dying seconds of the session to avoid crashing.

Movistar Yamaha’s Lorenzo (+0.184s), who is aiming to lift his third title this weekend by overturning the 7-point deficit in the standings to his teammate Rossi, ended the session in second. Lorenzo was one of the few riders who stuck with the extra soft front tire during the session, as most others preferred the Asymmetric front on offer from Bridgestone .The man who has won two of the last three races, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa (+0.303s), completed the provisional front row.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+0.392s) made use of the extra soft tire available to him to set his fastest time on his final lap of the session to finish in fourth.

Movistar Yamaha’s Rossi (0.415s), who will have to start from the back of the grid after the CAS rejected his stay of execution, finished the session fifth fastest. The ‘Doctor’ is aiming to lift his tenth world title at Valencia on Sunday and completed 21 laps as he focused on working on his race pace.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro (+0.642s) ended the session in sixth as the leading Satellite rider, ahead of Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) in seventh and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) in eighth.

Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Yonny Hernandez (Octo Pramac Racing) completed the top ten, with Stefan Bradl (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) in 11th and Ducati Team wildcard Michele Pirro in 13th. Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) was the leading Open class rider in 15th.

It was bad start to the weekend for Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) who is looking to secure sixth in the championship standings, as he found himself down in 17th. Nicky Hayden (Aspar MotoGP Team) in his last GP before he joins WorldSBK’s was 19th, ahead of Australian Jack Miller (LCR Honda) in 20th, Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team) in 21st and Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in 22nd.

Anthony West (AB Motoracing) filling in for the injured Karel Abraham was in 25th, while Alex De Angelis’ replacement Broc Parkes (E-Motion IodaRacing Team) finished the session in 26th.

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