Marquez: "It was the first Friday we had a good base"

Reigning Champion top of the pile on Day 1 at home

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) went quickest in both practice sessions on Day 1 of his second home Grand Prix of the year, and the one closest to his hometown of Cervera. With the stakes high and a lot of friends, family and fans in attendance, it was the best possible start for the reigning Champion as he aims to take his second win of the year.

He says he feels good - and had a good base to start from after attending the recent private test at the newly modified venue -  and will focus on trying the hard rear tyre tomorrow as the curtain comes up on Saturday.

Marc Marquez, P1: "Today I feel pretty good with the bike because of the test we did here and it was the first Friday maybe that we had a good base. But anyway, this afternoon we tried a few things on the bike, on the second run; we saw it was not so good, we went back and put in the new tyres. But, we’re feeling good and are looking forward to tomorrow and trying the hard rear, so we can try to understand which one is best for the race. We tried a few things on the electronics and the engine, we tried a different way like in Mugello so we can understand because the pace was good there. It felt a little bit strange, so we came back and everything ran okay, so we look forward to tomorrow and to improve. Of course, the home race is always special and you enjoy it even more than other races. Sometimes it’s too busy! But anyway with all the fans, friends, family here, you always enjoy it more."