Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was second quickest on the combined timesheets after day 1 of the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana, pipped to the post in the final minutes of the day by Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP). But Marquez put in the work to gain experience of the different tyres available at the season finale, and thinks there is still room for improvement – with pace on a par with that of both the Movistar Yamaha riders and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Viñales.
Marc Marquez (P2): “Today went quite well and I think the overall assessment has to be positive, because it’s important to start well. We focused our work on testing all of the tyres; in the morning we used the soft compound for both the front and rear and did quite a few laps with them. In the afternoon I rode the entire time with the hard front and rear. We did a lot of laps to test the different carcasses of the front tyre, and I think we’ve taken a good step forward. We ended the day happy with the work we had done, and tomorrow we’ll try to continue in the same way, because I think that along with Lorenzo, Rossi and Viñales, we’re all at a very similar level. I’m happy with my pace, but I think tomorrow we can improve it a little more.”