Marquez and Mir battle the Indonesian heat for Friday improvements
Mandalika International Street CircuitThe Repsol Honda Team worked hard to achieve a day of steady improvements in Indonesia with Marc Marquez earning his spot in Q2, a late fall for Joan Mir ended his run towards a spot in the top ten.
There was nowhere to hide from the intense Indonesian sunlight and heat as Friday practice began in Mandalika, temperatures pushing above 30°C from early in the morning. Keeping their focus throughout both sessions, the Repsol Honda Team were able to take full advantage of all the track time available to improve with each run. In classic MotoGP style, it all came down to a final five-minute shoot out to decide the top.
Having been in and around the top ten throughout the day, Marc Marquez spent Friday in Indonesia working on improving the setup and feeling of his Repsol Honda Team RC213V machine. Steady and consistent steps forward saw the eight-time World Champion end the day with a best time of 1’31.106 – good enough for sixth overall and a crucial spot in Q2. The #93 was pleased with the work done and pleasantly surprised to be able to already be running inside the top ten after a harder time around Mandalika in 2022.
Joan Mir had another day full of potential, the #36 finding 1.3 seconds between the morning and the afternoon session across his best laps. But this did not tell the complete story, the 2020 World Champion was on track for a spot in the top ten in the afternoon when a late fall ended what would have been his best lap of the day by a significant margin. Unharmed in the fall, Mir kept his spirits high when he returned to the garage.
Action resumes on Saturday, October 14 with FP2 at 10:10 Local Time before an important Qualifying session and Sprint Race follow shortly after. Both Repsol Honda Team riders will be hunting further improvements the the sun rises tomorrow.
Today went a bit better than expected, jumping straight to Q2 was above what we thought was possible. Last year I struggled a lot here, but I am already feeling a lot better and I felt comfortable throughout the day. It was a little bit careful after the crash last year and with so many races in a row. The objective for tomorrow is to get the best starting position possible, so let’s see what steps we can make overnight.
It was a day of improvements. The base we had this morning wasn’t what we needed but, in the afternoon, we made a step in a good direction. Everything was working better, and I was feeling quite good, especially with used tyres. During my first attempt at a time attack I came across Marc on the track and he had a moment which disturbed my lap. On the second run, I was behind Pecco and there were yellow flags for the first two laps. On the final lap I was doing a good lap, I think good enough for the top ten, but I fell coming into the last sector. It’s a shame but we can fight for more tomorrow.
