Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez led both free-practice sessions on the opening day of the Catalan Grand Prix.
FP1 started in mixed conditions and the Repsol Honda rider waited for the track to dry off before getting into action in the final minutes and setting the first fastest time.
In the afternoon, Marc was able to exploit the completely dry track to start working on his RC213V setup for the modified layout of the Montmeló Circuit (with track length shortened from 4.655 km to 4.652 km) and kept up a good pace throughout the session.
“Today I felt pretty good with the bike, as we already had a good base setup from the test we did here two weeks ago,” he said. “In the afternoon we tried a few changes on the bike during our second run, but ultimately we preferred to go back to the setup from the test.”
“We fit a new tyre and my last run was pretty good. We look forward to trying the hard Michelin rear tyre tomorrow, to understand what's best for the race because it should be quite a bit warmer and therefore tough on tyres. We'll try to keep the same level from today. The new track layout is different; the old one was more ‘natural,' but ultimately it's the same track and still enjoyable.”
