Repsol Honda Reports on Opening Day of 2014 MotoGP Season in Qatar

Press Release www.repsolhondateam.com Grand Prix of Qatar Round 1 - Thursday, March 20th 2014   Qatar - Practice Report Weather conditions Dry 23°C Air temp 23°C Track temp 74% Humidity 2014 MotoGP season gets underway in Qatar Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa have completed the first practice session of the 2014 season. Dani, who struggled with grip in this first session, was anyway the fastest factory rider – with the satellite teams enjoying a clear advantage after testing here two weeks ago. He finished the 45 minute session in 6th place with a time of 1’56.332 recorded on lap 13 of 16. 2013 World Champion, Marc, who climbed back aboard his RC213V for the first time in 6 weeks after breaking his leg, chose not to have any painkillers and managed an impressive 15 laps. He finished 11th for the night with a time of 1’56.682 on lap 13. The riders will be back on track tomorrow evening at 18h00 local time. Team Quotes 6th - 1'56.332 "We had a few problems today with grip, which is something that some of the riders who rode here at the test two weeks ago had commented about before. There isn’t much grip on the track and that means we have to try to get the most out of the bike under these circumstances. We’ll see if the track improves with a little more rubber laid down, giving us more traction. Today we just didn’t really have any, even though the track was in good condition. We still hope to improve session-by-session” 11th - 1'56.682 "I am fairly happy with how the first session went, because I haven't been on the bike in a while. I didn’t think my foot would bother me so much - especially on the right hand corners - although at the end of the session I felt better and this gives me hope of improving tomorrow. We are going to try to follow the same working strategy as today. In terms of the times, we aren't too far off Jorge, Valentino and Dani - and it's normal that the riders who were here for the test a fortnight ago are fast right from the get-go” practice results   Grand Prix of Qatar - Round 1 Pos. Rider Num. Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 1'55.201 2 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 1'55.667 3 Bradley Smith 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'55.816 4 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'55.996 5 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'56.020 6 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'56.332 7 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA Yamaha Factory YAMAHA 1'56.542 8 Colin Edwards 5 USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 1'56.626 9 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 1'56.668 10 Nicky Hayden 69 USA Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 1'56.670 11 Marc Marquez 93 ESP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'56.682 12 Stefan Bradl 6 GER LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 1'56.726 13 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR Ducati Team DUCATI 1'57.046 14 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'57.100 15 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'57.623 16 Karel Abraham 17 CZE Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA 1'57.779 17 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 1'58.182 18 Hector Barbera 8 ESP Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 1'58.394 19 Scott Redding 45 GBR Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 1'58.495 20 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 1'58.732 21 Danilo Petrucci 9 ITA IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER 1'59.321 22 Broc Parkes 23 AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 1'59.328 23 Michael Laverty 70 GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM No Time Set Copyright Free Images For more images please click here Circuit Information View circuit page at www.repsolhondateam.com Length 5.380 m / 3.343 miles Width 12m Left corners 6 Right corners 10 Longest straight 1.068 m / 0.664 miles Constructed 2004 Modified     Losail International Circuit Al Wusail,North Relief Road Doha, Qatar T: +974 4472 9151 F: +974 4472 9246   www.circuitlosail.com   Pole Position 1m 53.927s (170.003km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2008) Race Lap 1m 55.153s (168.193km/h) Casey Stoner (Ducati, 2008) Race Time 42m 36.587s (166.665km/h) Casey Stoner (Ducati, 2008) 2012 Winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2013 Winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) If you have any questions please email press@hondaracing.co.jp   Honda Racing Corporation 3-15-1, Senzui, Asaka-shi, Saitama-Pref., 351-0024 Japan