Brilliant youngster Marc Marquez has nailed the opening two free practice sessions in a perfect start to his date with MotoGP destiny in Valencia.
In his pursuit of winning the MotoGP in his rookie season, Marquez has withstood mounting pressure which sees him go into the final and deciding round with a 13-point lead over Jorge Lorenzo.
In the second practice run Marquez took 20 laps before posting a cracking 1:31.220s lap with his factory Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa falling just .066s short in second.
Yamaha’s Lorenzo was third in 1:31.378s with the fight far from over in a Championship which remains very much on a knife-edge.
Cal Crutchlow was fourth fastest in the Tech 3 Yamaha ahead of Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi.
In FP1 Marquez led the way with a 1:31.557s lap ahead of Lorenzo’s 1:31.575 with Pedrosa third best (1:31.581) with the top three instantly under Casey Stoner’s 2008 lap record of 1:32.582s.
The fresh asphalt has helped with the quick lap times however Marquez, the Moto2 winner at the track last year, warned the grip level was not ideal during practice.
“We have a new surface but there wasn’t much grip,” Marquez said.
“We still need to make some improvements as I’m not 100% happy, but we’re going in the right way.”
At 20, Marquez is striving to become the youngest champion in the top class in history.
Free practice 1
| 1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1:31.557 |
| 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1:31.575 |
| 3 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1:31.581 |
| 4 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1:32.086 |
| 5 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1:32.237 |
| 6 | Alvaro Bautista | Gresini Honda | 1:32.382 |
| 7 | Cal Crutchlow | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1:32.434 |
| 8 | Stefan Bradl | LCR Honda | 1:32.501 |
| 9 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | 1:32.520 |
| 10 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1:32.538 |
| 11 | Aleix Espargaro | Aspar Aprilia | 1:32.858 |
| 12 | Andrea Iannone | Pramac Ducati | 1:33.372 |
| 13 | Randy de Puniet | Aspar Aprilia | 1:33.570 |
| 14 | Michele Pirro | Pramac Ducati | 1:33.665 |
| 15 | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Ducati | 1:33.712 |
| 16 | Claudio Corti | Forward FTR-Kawasaki | 1:33.801 |
| 17 | Hector Barbera | Avintia FTR-Kawasaki | 1:33.880 |
| 18 | Danilo Petrucci | Ioda-Suter-BMW | 1:34.025 |
| 19 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Avintia FTR-Kawasaki | 1:34.425 |
| 20 | Michael Laverty | PBM Aprilia | 1:34.444 |
| 21 | Colin Edwards | Forward FTR-Kawasaki | 1:34.872 |
| 22 | Luca Scassa | Cardion Aprilia | 1:35.043 |
| 23 | Bryan Staring | Gresini FTR-Honda | 1:35.530 |
| 24 | Damian Cudlin | PBM-Aprilia | 1:35.953 |
| 25 | Lukas Pesek | Ioda-Suter-BMW | 1:36.452 |
| 26 | Martin Bauer | Remus-Suter-BMW | 1:37.177 |
Free practice 2
| 1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1:31.220 |
| 2 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1:31.286 |
| 3 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1:31.378 |
| 4 | Cal Crutchlow | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1:31.502 |
| 5 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1:31.639 |
| 6 | Stefan Bradl | LCR Honda | 1:31.858 |
| 7 | Alvaro Bautista | Gresini Honda | 1:31.873 |
| 8 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1:31.984 |
| 9 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1:32.363 |
| 10 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | 1:32.395 |
| 11 | Andrea Iannone | Pramac Ducati | 1:32.596 |
| 12 | Michele Pirro | Pramac Ducati | 1:32.756 |
| 13 | Aleix Espargaro | Aspar Aprilia | 1:32.809 |
| 14 | Claudio Corti | Forward FTR-Kawasaki | 1:33.172 |
| 15 | Colin Edwards | Forward FTR-Kawasaki | 1:33.252 |
| 16 | Hector Barbera | Avintia FTR-Kawasaki | 1:33.270 |
| 17 | Danilo Petrucci | Ioda-Suter-BMW | 1:33.304 |
| 18 | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Ducati | 1:33.487 |
| 19 | Randy de Puniet | Aspar Aprilia | 1:33.727 |
| 20 | Luca Scassa | Cardion Aprilia | 1:34.049 |
| 21 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Avintia FTR-Kawasaki | 1:34.077 |
| 22 | Michael Laverty | PBM Aprilia | 1:34.132 |
| 23 | Bryan Staring | Gresini FTR-Honda | 1:35.478 |
| 24 | Damian Cudlin | PBM-Aprilia | 1:35.644 |
| 25 | Martin Bauer | Remus-Suter-BMW | 1:35.832 |
| 26 | Lukas Pesek | Ioda-Suter-BMW | 1:36.353 |
