Gran Premi de Catalunya

MotoGP 2018 Round 7

Marquez and Pedrosa looking forward to home GP in Catalunya

The Repsol Honda Team is heading to the newly resurfaced Circuit de Catalunya for Round 7 of the season. Championship leader Marc Marquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa had the chance to test the new asphalt and the track’s updated layout before the Italian GP.

The run-off area for turn 13 has been worked on, track officials enlarging the run-off area by more than 20 meters while also removing the surrounding grandstands. The bank angle of turn 10 and 11 has also been altered.

As it is the case with other six rounds of the season, the Catalan Grand Prix will be shortened in length compared to previous years. This time the race will change from 25 laps to 24.

At the Gran Premi de Catalunya:

Marc Marquez has 2 wins, 1×125 (2010) and 1xMotoGP (2014), plus an additional 5 podiums and 3 pole positions.

Dani Pedrosa has 3 wins, 1×125 (2003), 1×250 (2005) and 1xMotoGP (2008), plus an additional 10 podiums and 4 pole positions.

Marc and Dani have stood together on the podium on four occasions: in 2013 (Dani 2nd and Marc 3rd), 2014 (Marc 1st and Dani 3rd) in 2016 (Marc 2nd and Dani 3rd), and in 2017 (Marc 2nd and Dani 3rd).

Marc Marquez 93

“I’m very happy anytime we race at home, in front of our fans, and I hope to give them an exciting race on Sunday, as that special atmosphere always gives you extra energy. We had a good test in Catalunya a few weeks ago, when we also had the chance to check out the layout, in particular the final section, which has been revised. I think they also did a really good job with the resurfacing: the tarmac now has very good grip and is very nice to ride on, even if the F1 cars are already starting to affect it by creating bumps at some of the braking points. The kerbs are still one of the track’s most challenging aspects; the inside kerbs are very high, and it’s a bit difficult to adapt your riding style to that. That said, it’s a nice track and we’ll try to make the best of it and fight for the podium again.”

Dani Pedrosa 26

“The Catalan GP is always a special race because all our family, fans, and friends are there. It always has a great atmosphere and a great feeling. The track itself is very nice, though demanding, especially for the tyres. You need to work a lot on the suspension and chassis setup to make sure you have good grip because you’re leaned over most of the time. Having partly returned to the original layout, we got back the final two downhill corners, which are really beautiful.”