The opening day of the Australian Grand Prix took place in cool but dry conditions at the Phillip Island circuit today, allowing the riders to start the work on the setup of their bikes in preparation for tomorrow's all important qualifying.
After setting the quickest lap time in the FP1 session, Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez concluded the day in second position, just 0.005 down on provisional pole-setter Aleix Espargaro.
โI'm happy with today because we started with a good base setup in FP1 and I immediately felt good on the bike. Our pace was fast and we were able to do some good work with the tyres. Anyway, I think for tomorrow we can try and further improve the setup, especially the stability of the bike in the fast corners,โ he said.
โThere are a few places where we could be quicker if we can manage to take another step in that area. The temperature was cold and the wind was quite strong, and sometimes it almost made the front fold. But that's normal here at this track, and you must try to find a compromise with the setup in order to minimize these factors.โ
