Sunday preparations underway for the Repsol Honda Team
There was no shortage of sunshine at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, temperatures steadily climbing throughout the day as Alex Marquez and Stefan Bradl began their preparations for Sunday.
The full Repsol Honda Team had their first taste of the recently re-surfaced Misano circuit as round seven of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship commenced. It proved to be a physically demanding day as the track temperature climbed to 43°C during Free Practice 2 for the premier class and bumps around the fast part of the circuit added yet more challenge.
With 15th position in Free Practice 1, Alex Marquez started his day on solid footing. In the afternoon Alex focused on his feeling for Sunday and the long 27-lap race, this meant the MotoGP rookie finished Friday down in 21st position. Working with his Repsol Honda Team, the reigning Moto2 World Champion is confident of improvements coming on Saturday as his ideal time was several tenths faster.
Stefan Bradl was able to take some benefit from testing in Misano as he started Free Practice 1 in and amongst the top runners. Improving his time from FP1 to FP2 by 0.7s moved the German to within 1.5 seconds of Quartararo’s fastest lap. Like many others, Bradl felt the affect of the bumps on the circuit as he worked on bike setup.
Both riders will return to the circuit tomorrow, Saturday September 12, for Free Practice 3 at 09:55 Local Time. The weather is once again expected to nudge 30°C ambient temperature.
Stefan Bradl
“We have been working on the setting of the bike today and we have been trying to find the balance. The circuit is quite bumpy, as we saw in the test. I think some other riders are finding it a bit difficult too, especially since the bumps are in a fast part of the track. I was able to improve my time a decent amount today so we will keep working tomorrow and see what comes.”
Alex Marquez
“We knew that today would be a little difficult at the start as some others have done more testing here. In the end I don’t think we are too far and we need to keep improving as we have been previously. Over one lap still we are missing something, but our rhythm and overall feeling is a lot better than our position shows. Today we weren’t fully focused on one lap and when you combine all my sectors it is a 1’33.5. We are starting here with a better feeling than in Austria even with the bumps on the faster part of the circuit.”
San Marino GP Combined Free Practice Classification
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Location Information
Close to the city of Rimini, the Misano Adriático circuit was constructed in 1972 and has since undergone an array of modifications. A regular scene for Italian Grands Prix throughout the 80s and early 90s, Misano returned to the MotoGP calendar in 2007.With updated facilities, track and grandstands, the Misano… read more.
| Length | 4.226 kilometres / 2.626 miles |
| Width | 14 metres |
| Left corners | 6 |
| Right corners | 10 |
| Longest straight | 0.565 kilometres / 0.351 miles |
| Constructed | 1969 |
| Modified | 2008 |
Misano World Circuit "Marco Simoncelli", Via Daijiro Kato, Misano Adriatico, Rimini, Italy - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m30.031 (168.9 km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2024) |
| Race Lap | 1m30.877s (167.4km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2024) |
| Race Time | 41m14.653s (165.9 km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2024) |
| 2024 Sprint Winner | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
| 2024 Race Winner | Enea Bastianini (Ducati) |
