Marquez tops Miller on wet opening day at Valencia

Difficult conditions greet riders as final round of MotoGP season commences.

Image: Supplied.

Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez completed day one at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana as the fastest man in some tough and wet conditions, topping Australian Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing).

Thanks to his FP1 time of 1m39.767s, the Spaniard headed Alma Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci and the top three were split by just 0.140s on Friday.

Just like FP1, the FP2 session was red-flagged in the early stages due to unsafe track conditions. This came after debris was left on circuit after Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) crashed at the tricky turn 12, but the Frenchman was okay and returned to the pits.

A short delay followed before the riders headed back out, but with the rain heavier than it was in FP1, none of the riders were able to improve on their morning times and the top 10 were decided for the day.

This left Marquez ending Friday as the quickest rider and Miller P2, despite finishing 13th in FP2. Petrucci topped FP2 by a significant margin as 0.407s was the gap back to the number 93, with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) the only other rider within a second of the Ducati rider in the second session.

It was 12th overall for ‘The Doctor’ however. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) sits fourth overall and the Italian was P12 in FP2, with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) completing the top five despite conditions that have often been more difficult for the newly-inducted Legend this season.

Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) ends P6 on the combined times, with Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) ending the day as the fastest Yamaha rider in seventh overall. Wildcard and Ducati Team test rider Michele Pirro sits P8 overall thanks to his FP1 time.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pol Espargaro grabs a provisional Q2 spot by ending Friday in ninth, along with teammate Bradley Smith’s eighth caps off a good day for the Austrian manufacturer in the wet conditions. Alex Rins (Team Ecstar Suzuki) rounded out the top 10.

In Moto2, Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors) impressed in tough, wet conditions after his FP1 time saw him end day one at the summit of the Moto2 combined standings. Lecuona’s 1m46.705s in the morning was enough to see him better Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Remy Gardner (Tech3 Racing) was P24.

Rookie Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) went fastest on his final flying lap in FP2 to end Friday on top in Moto3, his 1m51.873s enough to oust Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) took third.

Detailed results

Source: CycleOnline.com.au

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *