Alex Marquez, Alex Rins and Maria Herrera start their Jerez weekend well
The World Championship arrived in Europe on Friday and has hit one of most historic circuits on the calendar, Jerez, in the first of four events to be held in Spain this season.
In front of their home fans, Alex Marquez, Alex Rins and Maria Herrera made a good start to the Spanish GP for the Repsol Moto3 outfit, finishing second, eighth and sixteenth place on the combined standings for the two practice sessions.
From the very first session, Alex Rins and Alex Marquez made clear the advantage of their good work during the preseason at the track, setting the second and fourth fastest times, respectively.
Marquez was the first to go round in under 1’48 and his 1’47.699 time was the second best lap of the day. Rins was fourth in the morning and managed to lower his times in the second session for sixth place. His quickest lap was a 1’48.118, and left him eighth overall.
On her return to the World Championship, Maria Herrera made excellent progress. Eighteenth in the first session, the winner of the most recent race at the circuit in the FIM CEV Repsol placed thirteenth in the second runout, after riding in the Top 10 during the final minutes.
Her fastest lap was just 1.020s off Isaac Viñales’ timesheet-topping time, and put her sixteenth overall.
After a final practice session at 9am local time tomorrow, qualifying takes place from 12:35pm.
Alex Rins – 8th – 1:48.118 – 36 laps – 159 km
“Compared to the Grand Prix of Argentina and previous rounds, I feel pretty good on the bike at this track. This might be because we have references from testing here in preseason. We found a setup very quickly, but we are suffering a little –and I think this is the case for all the Hondas– when it gets hotter and we have less grip. Looking ahead to tomorrow, I think we can improve our times.”
Alex Marquez – 2nd – 1:47.699 – 35 laps – 155 km
“I think this first day in Jerez was positive. During the first practice this morning, temperatures were lower and that was good for the bike and for us, allowing us to ride faster. During the second session the temperatures rose and it was harder for all of us. Tomorrow we must take into account the high temperatures in qualifying, because in the morning it was easier to ride and at midday it gets a little tougher. We are focused on working on this to get a good pace for the race.”
Maria Herrera – 16th – 1:48.745 – 36 laps – 159 km
“In the first practice I was finding the feeling with the bike slowly and I knew that I still had room for improvement. In the afternoon session we continued to progress, I felt good and we dropped our times –although I know that I still need to improve my lines. I feel better on the bike with every session, I keep getting more familiar with it and I like it. Compared to the weekend of the FIM CEV Repsol at Jerez, now I feel better. Here the riders are faster and I do not have to be the one to push things. Slowly I am getting closer to their times and I am very happy.”
Source: Repsol Media
