repsolmedia.com

Marc Marquez third and Dani Pedrosa tenth onfirst day Down Under

Repsol Honda team riders make progress in first two practice sessions for Australian GP.

Just four days after Marc Marquez clinched his second MotoGP World Championship –his fourth in all classes–

the Repsol Honda team riders returned to work. Today was the first day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix,

in which the newly-crowned champion finished third in the combined timesheet and his teammate, Dani Pedrosa,

was tenth.

Amidst sunshine and warm temperatures, Marquez and Pedrosa were able to begin setting up their bikes for the

Phillip Island circuit which is very demanding on tyres. In the first session Marquez was fifth, three tenths off top

man Aleix Espargaro, but he was able to cut nearly three tenths off his morning time in the second session to

complete the day third with a 1:29.752. He was 0.150s down on Jorge Lorenzo, the fastest rider . On

the other side of the garage, Pedrosa was ninth in the first session and tenth in the second, despite improving

almost 4 tenths in the afternoon. He ended the day with a time of 1:30.289, 6 tenths slower than Lorenzo.

sees the second day of practice and the sixteenth race of the MotoGP World Championship

season.

on Friday

Saturday Sunday

Marc Marquez 3rd 1:29.752 39 laps 173 km

"Today we focused on working with the new tyres that Bridgestone have brought forthis circuit, which are totally different from what we have used for the rest of the year.This is also a circuit that requires a very exact setup, because it has some very fastcorners. In the afternoon practice session we took a step forward and I felt muchbetter on the bike, but I think we have to keep working because there are still thingsthat we can improve. However, the feeling is very good and I think it has been apositive day".

PROFILE AUDIO

Dani Pedrosa 10th 1:30.289 42 laps 187 km

"Today didn’t go entirely well for us. It was difficult to find grip with the newcompounds that Bridgestone have given us and we struggled especially with therear. we have to work to the maximum on the setup to see if we can makebetter use of this tyre and move up positions on the timesheets".

PROFILE AUDIO

SEE IMAGES

MotoGP - Australian GP. 1st & 2nd free practice

1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1:29.602

Tomorrow

10/17/14

2 Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha 1:29.749 +0.147

3 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda 1:29.752 +0.150

4 Andrea Iannone Ducati 1:29.803 +0.201

5 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1:29.945 +0.343

10 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 1:30.289 +0.687

FULL CLASSIFICATION