On the second and final day of the Valencia test, Marc Marquez took to the circuit around 10:20 a.m. local time and made the best of the fair weather conditions to complete a busy test schedule. Marc decided to not try the new front Michelin tyres and instead worked to better understand the new engine, also completing two long runs to find a good base setup. His fastest time of 1’30.171 on lap 58 of 79 placed him second-fastest on the day, just 0.196 seconds from the top.
Dani Pedrosa joined the action shortly after noon, when the track reopened after having been red-flagged for over an hour due to safety conditions following a crash by Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone. Like his teammate, Dani didn’t test the new Michelin front tyre and instead concentrated on comparing the characteristics of his current bike with the 2017 engine. His time of 1’30.686 (lap 38 of 42) put him in fifth place.
Marc Marquez
2ND 1’30.171
“Today was a good day. We started the pre-season better than last year, and we hope to continue to constantly progress from now on. At this track we found a good base setup and a good rhythm, and we’ll see how it goes from now. We hope to continue like this. We didn’t do a ‘time attack,’ and we also didn’t test the new Michelin front, as we eventually used all the track time available to make long exits and also a couple of 10-lap mini-long runs.”
Dani Pedrosa
5TH 1’30.686
“Today we were able to ride with the new bike a little more and further compare the characteristics. We continued to take things fairly easy physically and not put in too many laps in order to keep up the recovery, but we tried to understand more about the new bike, to see how the tyres, suspension and mapping work with it. I think there are things that are positive and other details that we’ll need to continue working on. We must take the data we’ve gathered and carefully analyze it in order to understand what step to take next with the bike.”
1 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’29.975 2 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team 0.191 3 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team 0.468 4 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar 0.624 5 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team 0.711 6 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda 0.734 7 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 0.734 8 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Team 0.769 9 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 0.910 10 FOLGER Jonas 94 GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 0.973 11 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1.040 12 MILLER Jack 43 AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 1.094 13 REDDING Scott 45 GBR Octo Pramac Racing 1.143 14 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Aspar Team 1.211 15 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Avintia Racing 1.269 16 PIRRO Michele 51 ITA Ducati 1.841 17 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1.878 18 RABAT Tito 53 SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 1.943 19 BAZ Loris 76 FRA Avintia Racing 2.186 20 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2.563 21 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE Aspar Team 2.593 22 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE Aspar Team 2.724 23 TSUDA Takuya 22 JPN Suzuki Test Team 3.330 24 RINS Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar 3.786 25 LOWES Sam 22 GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
