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As is customary in Austria, the first two Free Practice sessions of the eleventh round of the season were held with different conditions that affected the MotoGP riders.
Marc Márquez started the day with a good feeling, managing to finish ninth in FP1. Under clear skies and with a totally dry track, the Repsol Honda Team rider registered a best time of 1:23.967. His morning marker earned him a provisional spot in Q2, as in the afternoon session the wet conditions meant that the track was not dry enough to lower lap times.
On the other side of the box, Pol Espargaró concluded a positive first day at the Red Bull Ring. The Repsol Honda Team rider finished the first session in eleventh place with a best time of 1:24.097.
Espargaró was among the top three best riders on the timesheets during the first half of FP2, ending the day with a good feeling and ready to face another Saturday at Spielberg tomorrow.
Rider Statements
“Today’s plan was to work through some things for HRC before tomorrow when we focus on being faster. I am still struggling a little in the hard braking, but there are many riders struggling a bit with it here. The wet practice helped us a lot, both with my physical condition and showing my speed. It has been a decent first day but we will have to see what happens tomorrow.”
“Overall I think it was a good day. In the dry we were able to improve a little and we made progress with the used tyres because we didn’t change it in the morning. In the afternoon we did our best lap in the wet and we were fast, in second. We dropped down when people did some final laps on a drier track but I was fast in the wet. In the wet we are fast and in the dry we are looking better, I’m satisfied.”