Marc Márquez was the fifth fastest rider of the day at the Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto on Saturday. On his sixth lap of a total of eight, the Repsol Honda Team rider posted a best time of 1’37.145, which will allow him to start from the second row of the grid.
Pol Espargaró had a difficult Saturday in Jerez. In the morning, in FP3, he was unable to make it directly into Q2. In Q1 he experienced problems with his Honda RC213V, and would not make it into the second session.
With a best time of 1’37.138, Espargaró will start from thirteenth, on the fifth row of the grid.
The MotoGP race will be held at 2PM local time on Sunday.
Rider Statements
“I am very happy with how it went today because I was trying to survive today, to follow some riders and push to the limit and to also try to find my rhythm alone. But we are far from the podium, however starting in fifth will help a lot for the race but I predict it will be a difficult one. Yes, following a rider for one lap allows you to gain in some areas but it can cause problems in other areas. In the past it was the opposite way and it was people looking for my wheel, of course I would like it to be the opposite way but now I try to find something.”
“Today we were missing a little bit of luck, we crashed at the worst possible time and missed the ability to go straight to Q2. Then in Q1 we set a time that was fast enough to be fifth on the grid and the fastest Honda, but we still just missed the timing to advance. We need to understand why we crashed a little bit more. When you’re working well and have the speed like we have this weekend but nothing comes, it’s extra painful. Anyway the race is tomorrow, we will reset and focus on making a good start to the race. Understanding the situation at the end of the race will be very important but starting in 13th we need to push from the start.”