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·@NickyHayden: “it was nice to see my name up there again”
On a second day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix again heavily affected by the weather, Marc Marquez put on another masterclass in MotoGP. He went fastest in FP3, contested in the dry, and was also fastest in the wet in FP4, only surpassed by teammate Nicky Hayden –who had clocked a time 3 seconds quicker before the early shower in the session. The riders went out on intermediate tyres for qualifying, but after just a single lap Marquez returned to the garage to change to slicks. He went back out and stopped the clock at 1:30.189, almost 8 tenths faster than the rider in second place. It marked his seventh pole position of the year and the 65th of his career, a new record in the World Championship. Hayden, who waited to change his tyres, ended the session in a positive seventh place, with a time of 1:32.944.
Marc Márquez
“I’m happy because, in addition to the pole, I was able to put in five laps and I noticed some things we can improve tomorrow. For example, we can get more grip, especially with the rear and on corner entry. In FP4, in the wet, I felt very comfortable, so this weekend we’re getting things right and we have to maintain this dynamic. Tomorrow’s race is still an unknown because we aren’t sure what tyres we’ll use, nor who our rivals will be, but we’ll try to make the best of any situation we find. All the best to my brother Alex who’s going to Melbourne hospital for a medical check after crashing in the Moto2 qualifying. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.”
Nicky Hayden
“Today has been another day of changeable conditions. We tested different tyres to see the possibilities we had. FP4 wasn’t really very useful, but it was nice to see my name up there again after so long, and I enjoyed it. In Q2 we started with intermediate tyres and then we changed to slicks, but we only had time to put on the rear so I think seventh position is good. Obviously you always want to be higher up, but it was all very tough. Now I hope to have some dry laps in the warm-up tomorrow to collect data and improve some aspects for the race. Apart from the weather, everything is going very well so I hope to do a good job for the team and repay the trust they’ve placed in me here in Australia.”