The Repsol Honda team once again achieved another double result in the top ten, finishing Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró in fourth and seventh position, respectively.
The Misano Marco Simoncelli circuit awaited the MotoGP riders in the rain, in conditions that were far from adequate for the first day of practice at the San Marino GP. In fact, Practice 1 started dry, but finished without getting rid of the rain. The time during which they were able to run dry allowed the riders to test the circuit in better conditions, and to offer the best moments of the day, which all came from this first half of free practice 1.
During these few dry minutes of the day, Pol Espargaró managed to take Honda honors, setting what would be the sixth best time of the day. His 1'33.019 saw him finish 0.353 seconds behind Viñales' best time of the day. In free practice 2, in wet conditions, Espargaró wasted no time getting out onto the track and trying to continue to get to know his Honda RC213V more in all conditions, improving as the afternoon progressed.
Marc Márquez, for his part, finished the day in ninth position, just half a second from the fastest dry time. # 93 made the most of all the time available on the track during the first free practice sessions. Already in the seconds, Márquez returned to improve his sensations in the wet. And he did it, setting the fifth fastest time in FP2.
Saturday dawned free of storms, so the riders tried to take advantage of free practice 3 to improve their previous times and to get the most out of their bikes. Pol started determined to finish in the top ten, after the good feelings on Friday. Finally, he did it with a lap of the Misano circuit of 1'32.416. During Q2, Espargaró secured sixth place on the grid with his last lap on the track, and improving his FP3 time by another half a second to secure a place in that second row of the grid.
Marc was picking up speed throughout Practice 3. Unfortunately, he suffered a crash at Turn 14 during the final minutes of the session, so he could not improve his time entering Q1. It didn't take long for the eight-time world champion to make it to Q2 to join his teammate. With a provisional fourth place in his pocket after a first round, Márquez went out to look for something else before suffering a second crash again, this time at Turn 9. Again unscathed, Marc secured a place in front of the third row of the Grill.
On Sunday, after a quiet and productive warm-up session in which Márquez and Espargaró finished 11th and 12th, everyone's attention was focused, as usual lately, on the weather as the clouds gathered and light raindrops began to fall on the track while the riders prepared to be placed on the starting grid. Despite everything, the rain finally stayed away and the 27-lap San Marino GP was run dry.
Marc didn't hesitate for a moment, and as soon as the lights went out, he started to move forward, rushing into the top five. On the fourth lap of the race, Márquez edged out Aleix Espargaró and moved up to fourth place to fight for much of the race with Enea Bastianini. The constant pace that Marc was able to maintain in the last laps of the race made him stay with that fourth place. This is Marquez's first consecutive top five since he returned from injury. Something to celebrate, without a doubt.
Pol started the race fast too, trying to make up ground as the lights went out. This outing put him next to Alex Rins, both of them ready to chase the Repsol Honda teammate for a long time. In the last lap, the youngest of the Espargaró beat his older brother Aleix, taking seventh place which, coincidentally, is his seventh result among the top ten of the season. The Misano GP has place #44 14th overall in the standings, with 64 points.
MotoGP riders won't have to wait too long before getting back on track, as the Italian circuit will host a two-day test this week. The competition will return on October 3 at the Circuit of the Americas, United States.
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