Marquez leads the way at rainy Valencia, Pedrosa positive at 5th-fastest
Almost uninterrupted rainfall marked day one of the Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana, at times hard enough to force Race Direction to red-flag both FP1 and FP2 due to track conditions.
Marc Marquez set the fastest lap of the day in 1’39.767”, with Dani Pedrosa—newly named as a MotoGP Legend—in fifth place at 1’40.467”. Both lap times were made in the morning.
With weather forecasts also showing a chance of rain for tomorrow, Marc and Dani secured provisional top-10 spots that could put them straight into Q2 if rain actually does disrupt the FP3 proceedings.
Marc Marquez
“Honestly, it was a difficult day because not only were there wet conditions with a lot of water, but also because it was very cold. When there’s so much water on track, it’s a kind of lottery, and the only thing you can do is try not to crash. This situation made things more complicated, but luckily the track here in Valencia has very good drainage and very good grip all things considered, and this allowed us to actually ride today. That said, I felt very good on the bike and was able to feel the limit and be fast, which is very important. It looks like the weather will be a bit better tomorrow, only to worsen again on Sunday, so we need to be ready for whatever condition we may find if we wish to fight for the podium.”
Dani Pedrosa
“It seems it’s going to rain quite a lot this weekend! The track changes when the water increases, and in some points it’s a bit difficult to ride. That was the case this afternoon, so I just did very few laps. On the other hand, when there’s a bit less water, like at a certain point during FP1, you can be much faster. So we must wait and see what conditions we’ll have over the weekend. This will also affect the tyre choice and the rhythm of the race.”
Combined Free Practice Classification
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
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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) |