Repsol Honda duo on top after first day in Valencia

Marquez and Pedrosa do 'double wheelies'

It’s been a positive first day for the Repsol Honda team in Valencia, with Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa finishing on the top of the time sheets.

Championship leader Marc, winner in Valencia last year in Moto2, had a good start to the day finishing first in FP1 with just 0.024 separating the top three riders – Marc 1'31.557 (lap 20 of 21), Lorenzo 1'31.575 (lap 12 of 19) and Dani 1'31.581 (lap 10 of 18) – with all three lapping under the Circuit Record Lap set by Casey Stoner in 2008 (1'32.582).

In the afternoon’s FP2 session, times improved on the new asphalt and both Marc and Dani (who is the only rider to have won here in all three classes) bettered this morning’s times, using the hard rear tire. Marc recorded a time of 1'31.220 on lap 16 of 20, and Dani was second fastest with 1'31.286 on lap 16 of 22.

Marc Marquez 1st 1'31.220"
It was good to start the most important week of the season and with a good feeling. We still need to improve our setup but we were fastest today – which is the key thing ahead of Sunday's race. Tomorrow we will continue in the same way but try to improve and take another step forward because I am sure that the rest of the riders will do so."

Dani Pedrosa 2nd 1'31.286"
Today we were able to work with the soft and hard compound tires, but the track conditions weren't ideal and the bike was sliding a lot. We will have to be very focused, because the level of the other riders is high at the moment and everyone is riding fast. For tomorrow we shall concentrate on improving certain aspects of the bike and continue with the working method that we have been using."

Practice Results

Pos Rider Time Nat Bike Team
1 Marc Marquez 1'31.220 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 1'31.286 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 1'31.378 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Cal Crutchlow 1'31.502 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Valentino Rossi 1'31.639 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
6 Stefan Bradl 1'31.858 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
7 Alvaro Bautista 1'31.873 SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
8 Bradley Smith 1'31.984 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
9 Andrea Dovizioso 1'32.363 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Nicky Hayden 1'32.395 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Andrea Iannone 1'32.596 ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
12 Michele Pirro 1'32.756 ITA DUCATI Ducati Test Team
13 Aleix Espargaro 1'32.809 SPA ART Power Electronics Aspar
14 Claudio Corti 1'33.172 ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
15 Colin Edwards 1'33.252 USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
16 Hector Barbera 1'33.270 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
17 Danilo Petrucci 1'33.304 ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
18 Yonny Hernandez 1'33.487 COL DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
19 Randy De Puniet 1'33.570 FRA SUZUKI Suzuki Test Team
20 Luca Scassa 1'34.049 ITA ART Cardion AB Motoracing
21 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'34.077 JAP FTR Avintia Blusens
22 Michael Laverty 1'34.132 GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
23 Bryan Staring 1'35.478 AUS FTR-HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
24 Damian Cudlin 1'35.644 AUS PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
25 Martin Bauer 1'35.832 AUT S&B SUTER Remus Racing Team
26 Lukas Pesek 1'36.353 CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project