Marquez shows his speed on MotoGP return
Marc Marquez made a welcome return to the Grand Prix grid as the Aragon GP began, ending the day in eighth with Pol Espargaro looking to rally on Saturday.
All eyes, and cameras, were on the Repsol Honda Team garage as Friday dawned in MotorLand Aragon with Marc Marquez making his much-anticipated return to competition. Although still recovering from the fourth surgery on his right arm, Marquez wasted little time in getting to work and headed out as soon as Free Practice 1 began. The session was spent getting back up to speed and understanding the 2022 Honda RC213V around the Aragon circuit, one of Marquez’s favourite tracks.
From Free Practice 2, the #93 and his team began to explore further as they tried a new swing arm on the Honda machine. Setting his fastest lap of the weekend so far, a 1’47.761, with the new swing arm provided a positive boost to the day. Ending Friday as the eighth fastest rider overall and within 0.4s of the quickest time was further demonstration of Marquez’s fitness level and the recent developments made to the RC213V.
Pol Espargaro endured a more complicated start to the Aragon GP as he worked to improve the setting and performance of his Honda. With the MotoGP field continuing to get closer and closer, just a few tenths can be the difference between the top ten and the top 20. 23rd on the combined times is not where Espargaro nor the Repsol Honda Team are looking to finish, and an intense evening of work is ahead to look for solutions.
Marc Marquez
“I am very happy to be back on the bike and riding in MotoGP again. The feeling from the morning to the afternoon improved a lot. In the morning I wasn’t riding well, and I was quite stiff on the bike. Then in the afternoon I was more relaxed, and I didn’t get as tired and we were able to work in a better way. Overall, it was good to understand the bike and how to ride well at this track again. On my last run with the soft tyre, I was putting in a good lap but had a little bit of a moment in the final corner. If you’re making mistakes, it means you’re pushing which is good. There are some things to work on, but we on our way.”
Pol Espargaro
“It wasn’t a good day today, but maybe not quite as bad as it looks from the result sheet. On my last time attack I made a couple of mistakes, and I couldn’t improve my time with the soft tyre. I think we could be inside the top 15 if I could put a lap together but I wasn’t feeling comfortable, and we need to find more grip. Hopefully the grip on track improves tomorrow and we can also improve it from our side. The plan is to hit the ground running tomorrow and do our best.”
Aragon Grand Prix Practice Results
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Location Information
An ultra-modern facility, MotorLand Aragón had its roots firmly established thanks to a solid history of street racing in Alcañiz, which hosted events between 1963 and 2003. Safety advice warning against the continuation of this led to the proposal and construction of a sporting complex dedicated to motorsport. With support… read more.
| Length | 5.078 kilometres / 3.155 miles |
| Width | 15 metres |
| Left corners | 10 |
| Right corners | 7 |
| Longest straight | 0.968 kilometres / 0.601 miles |
| Constructed | 2009 |
Motorland Aragón, Teruel, Spain - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m 46.069s (172.3Km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022) |
| Race Lap | 1m 47.795s (169.5Km/h) Luca Marini (Ducati, 2022) |
| Race Time | 41m 35.462s (168.4 km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2022) |
| 2024 Sprint Winner | Marc Marquez (Ducati) |
| 2024 Race Winner | Marc Marquez (Ducati) |
