Marquez fastest as Pedrosa takes to the track at Laguna Seca

Repsol Honda rookie, Marc Marquez, was the fastest rider today on the first day of free practice for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.

With track conditions improving from this morning, Marc was almost a second faster in FP2 with a time of 1’22.040 set on lap 14 of 24. Teammate Dani Pedrosa took to the track in the afternoon session for the first time since his dramatic high side crash in Sachsenring a week ago. Still hindered by his injury, Dani was 11th fastest for the day with a time of 1’23.129 set on his final lap of 23.

Marc Marquez – 1st – 1’22.040
“In the first free practice the most important thing was to remain calm and take it slowly, and that is what we did. Also, the track conditions and the mist made things tricky. During the first few minutes I was a little stressed on the bike, because I had a lot of work to do. It’s a brand new track for me, but it is fun. It is very narrow and short, with many bumps so it took a bit of adapting on my behalf. In the second session I found things much more comfortable, I started to enjoy myself and found a pace that was not bad at all. We were fastest, but the time we clocked is still a little off the track record. I’m happy with this first day, so we’ll see if tomorrow we can continue in the same way and continue to learn the circuit”

Dani Pedrosa – 11th – 1’23.129
“It was difficult to ride in my condition, but I had expected that. Now I have to try to rest up as much as possible for tomorrow and regain some energy, so that I can endure the pain once again. Being realistic, obviously winning the race this weekend is not a feasible goal -perhaps even getting a podium is out of the equation- but I will be trying to finish the race as high up the order as possible. I will look to minimise the advantage that my rivals will have in terms of points. Finally, I want to thank everyone who has sent their support to me in recent days for their messages”

Source: Repsol Honda Team