Marquez second fastest on day one in Brno, but injury scare for Pedrosa

It was a mixed first day in the Czech Republic for Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.

This morning, with cooler temperatures, the riders attacked immediately with Marc second fastest and Dani third. At the end of the session Marc ran wide in turn thirteen and had to lay the bike in the gravel, thankfully he escaped uninjured.

This afternoon, the ambient temperature rose to over 30ºC and the session was littered with crashes from several riders as the track also rose to a high 46ºC.

Marc went fastest with his time of 1’56.513 on lap 3 of 6 and remained unbeaten for the remainder of the session. He was one of the few top riders to improve on the FP1 time despite crashing on his last exit in turn seven, fortunately walking away from the incident. His time placed him second for the day in the combined times.

Dani crashed early in the session – on just his second lap – after some oil leaked from his front fork as he rode through turn thirteen and resulted in a high side. Dani visited the medical centre for an x-ray where they confirmed there was no fracture but heavy bruising to the left ankle. He finished the day 4th in the combined times with 1’56.784 (FP1).