Incidents during the day for both Repsol Honda Team riders prevented Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez from achieving their full potential in one lap.
Saturday at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España started with the always important session of Free Practice 3, one last chance to get a direct pass for the second quarter. Marc Marquez was one of the first riders to go faster in the session, jumping from outside the top 15 to fifth place within the first minutes of the session. Unfortunately, Marquez suffered a quick crash at Turn 7 in the final minutes of RP3. He fell badly, but was able to evade serious injury. This was confirmed by a brief visit to the local hospital for a CT scan.
Back on his way to Free Practice 4, Marquez confirmed his physical condition and did what he had to do before the first quarter. Marquez, who initially set the pace in the 15-minute session, could not improve beyond fourth place a few moments later and was 14th at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España on Sunday.
Turn 7 would prove to be a challenge for Pol Espargaro too and fall in the final minutes of Free Practice 4. When Espargaro ran away unscathed, he was left with a single Repsol Honda Team machine for the first quarter. Up until this point, Espargaro had worked continuously to improve his pace and feel on the RC213V and had an overall very positive RP4 result.
With a 1’37,407 in the first quarter, Espargaro missed a Q2 position by just 0.057 seconds when he qualified 13th for Sunday’s race. Espargaro’s Q1 time would have put him 11th in Q2. Even so, Espargaro is determined to show what he can do in tomorrow’s race.
Takaaki Nakagami finished the day as the fastest Honda, finishing fifth on the grid with his LCR Honda machine.
The race marks a milestone as the Repsol Honda Team riders will start their 1000th Grand Prix at tomorrow’s Spanish GP. Repsol and Honda, a relationship that began in 1995, have won 15 drivers’ championships and 10 team championships on the way to that 1000th start.