Positive first day for Marquez and Pedrosa in Le Mans

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa (returning to the team after a three race absence) have had a productive first day at the French GP, with twelve riders within a second of each other.

After heavy rain fall yesterday, the weather stayed dry for the first day of practice, enabling Dani to find his feet again after his time off after surgery to his right arm. In this morning’s FP1 session, Marc lost time after an electrical issue on one of his bikes early in the session, which was fixed soon after. However, the reigning World Champion didn’t let this disrupt his day and continued work as usual. Marc – using a new swing arm tested in Jerez – finished the day in 5th place with his time of 1’33.670 on lap 16 of 21.

Dani, having not ridden his Honda RC213V for six weeks, took it easy this morning to find his feeling again. He improved considerably by the afternoon and finished this first day in 7th with a time of 1’33.725 (lap 18/18) and just half a second from the top spot.

Marc Marquez -5th 1'33.670 [lap 16/21]: "Today went quite well. I'm happy because we have done a good job in preparation for the race, and we have also done some interesting tests that will allow us to keep working in a good way this weekend. The final position for the day might only be fifth, but the feeling is good and that is important. Tomorrow we will try to improve and continue on the same track with our work, which is the right way for us to go."

Dani Pedrosa - 7th 1'33.725 [lap 18/18]: "The first day after a long time without riding has been a little difficult, as was finding a good feel for the track and getting used to the speed and the tyres. In addition, this track is not easy to tackle when it’s a little cold. However, gradually we have made progress and by the afternoon things were going better, even if I still lacked a bit of pace. Tonight I will try to relax as much as I can, in order to regain energy for tomorrow."

Repsol Honda