2020 begins in Valencia
Action resumed at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo as 2020 began in earnest with the traditional post-season test with the Repsol Honda Team’s 2020 riders.
Marc Marquez began his 2020 title defense two days after clinching a sensational 12th win of 2019. Starting early, Marc began to work through a busy day in Valencia. Just after 1PM Local Time he suffered a fall at Turn 13 but was unharmed and returned to running just after lunch. Completing a total of 60 laps, the reigning World Champion enjoyed a productive day and finished fifth fastest with a 1’30.698.
The opening day of testing saw Moto2 World Champion Alex Marquez try the new RC213V for the first time. Alex was victim to a harmless crash at Turn 10 on lap eight of the morning. Able to return to track just before lunch, Alex completed 53 laps on his debut as an HRC rider with a fastest time of 1’32.873 on his penultimate lap.
One more day of running awaits the riders at the Valencia circuit before transferring to Jerez for the final laps of calendar 2019.
Marc Marquez
“I’m happy with how today went overall, we had our first contact with the 2020 bike and started to understand it. I had a strange crash on my out lap from the box but there weren’t any issues on the bike. Tomorrow we will concentrate on some other areas to understand some more things. It will be another busy day but I am looking forward to continuing our work so the team can work on our feedback over winter.”
Alex Marquez
“First I want to say thank you to Honda for this opportunity to join them as the Moto2 World Champion. Each lap we were able to improve which is important and I was able to enjoy my time on the bike. I’m very happy, it has been a positive day for me apart from the rookie mistake I made in the first run. My rhythm was quite good, and I know where I need to improve and focus on for tomorrow. The plan for tomorrow is to just make more laps so I can understand the bike better, learn how to manage it more.”
Valencia Test Day 1
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Location Information
The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana was completed in 1999 and held rounds of the MotoGP and Spanish Motorcycle Championships in the same year. The Cheste track has several layouts, running anti-clockwise with varying lengths. MotoGP events are held on a 4km track comprising of five right handed corners, eight… read more.
| Length | 4.005 kilometres / 2.489 miles |
| Width | 12 metres |
| Left corners | 9 |
| Right corners | 5 |
| Longest straight | 0.876 kilometres / 0.544 miles |
| Constructed | 1999 |
Circuito de la Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Spain - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m 28.931s (162.1km/h) Maverick Viñales (Aprilia, 2023) |
| Race Lap | 1m 30.145s (159.9km/h) Brad Binder (KTM, 2023) |
| 2023 Race Winner | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
| 2023 Sprint Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducati) |
