Alex Rins leads the way in the wet, Alex Marquez fifth

Friday was a positive first day of practice for the Grand Prix of San Marino and Rimini despite rain, as Alex Rins and Alex Marquez again demonstrated a good feeling with their Honda NSF250RW machines.

The winner of the last race led both sessions, despite a crash in the second free practice, whilst Marquez –runner up in Great Britain– was second in the afternoon session. Marquez placed fifth on the combined timesheet –despite a pair of light crashes.

Difficult conditions greeted the Repsol Moto3 riders at the Misano circuit, as steady rain all day left the track surface slippery. There were numerous falls in every class and Rins and Marquez were no exception. None of their falls came with any serious consequences and both were able to perform well on the soaking surface.

In the first session Rins completed 14 laps and recorded a best time of 1:55.049, more than a second faster than his nearest rival. Marquez, with a small crash at Turn 6 in the session, set his fastest time on the last of 12 laps: 1:57.728.

The rain increased throughout the day and, although the pace was slower than in the morning, both showed that they were still strong in the afternoon. They led the way, 0.250s apart, despite crashes for both Rins and Marquez, after 11 and 12 laps respectively.

Tomorrow will see a final practice session, followed by qualifying. The weather is expected to improve and the rain is forecast to disappear.

Alex Rins – 1st – 1:55.049 – 25 laps – 106 km
“From the morning session things have gone pretty well for us. Calmly and cautiously, the times have come for us and I felt comfortable on the bike. In the afternoon the track conditions changed, there was a lot more water on the surface and at Turn 3 on the first lap I lost grip with the rear and had a small crash. The important thing is that afterwards we were able to return to the pace that the other riders were doing. Hopefully it will be dry tomorrow morning, so that we can find a good setup for the race”.

Alex Marquez – 5th – 1:57.728 – 24 laps – 102 km
“Today we tried the bike on very wet asphalt and also a little drier, and I had two crashes –one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was very easy to crash today. For the morning crash I do not yet know exactly what happened, but in the afternoon it was because I was pushing a little more. I fell because I was forcing things, but I think that in the wet this bike is going well. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have dry track time, but if not we have a very good base”.

Source: Repsol Media