Marc Marquez tops Brno warm-up - Quartararo, Zarco impress on old tyres
All 21 MotoGP riders covered by just 1.060s during warm-up at Brno - all three rear tyres on track, table shows differences in tyre age.
Marc Marquez, who won Saturday’s Czech MotoGP Sprint despite backing off due to a phantom tyre pressure warning, remained on top of the timesheets during morning warm-up at Brno.
The Ducati Lenovo title leader, chasing to extend his win streak to ten in a row this afternoon, again used medium tyres front and rear, with his sixth and final lap his fastest.
With six laps on the medium rear before the start of warm-up, that meant the rear was 12 laps old when Marquez did his best time.
However, the race will be 21 laps and, while Michelin predicts that the majority of riders are again likely to opt for medium tyres for the grand prix, “the soft [rear] option remains a possibility… and the hard option should also be considered”.
All three rears were duly in use this morning, with Miguel Oliveira leading the way before settling into a close fifth on the hard rear (also tried by Raul Fernandez).
Johann Zarco was the only rider with the soft rear, which he took to twelfth this morning.
That might not sound too impressive, but the LCR Honda rider’s final lap was his fastest, by which time the rear had done 16 laps (ten before the start of warm-up) and was still within half-a-second of Marquez’s best.
Another Frenchman turning heads for a similar reason was Monster Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
Fifth in the Sprint, Quartararo went one better this morning, and was just 0.132s slower than Marquez.
Just like Zarco, Quartararo’s last lap was his fastest, by which time his (medium) rear tyre had also done 16 laps.
KTM's Sprint runner-up Pedro Acosta joined Quartararo in putting 16 laps on a front medium, and one less on the rear.
HRC’s Luca Marini was 21st and last, but only 1.060s behind Marquez.
The following table shows the tyre type and age for each rider’s best lap in warm-up.
Czech MotoGP: Warm-up tyre choice/age during best lap time | ||||||
| Pos | Rider | Lap Time | Front Tyre Compound | Front Age | Rear Tyre Compound | Rear Age |
| 1 | Marc Marquez | 1'53.634 | Medium | 9 laps | Medium | 12 laps |
| 2 | Marco Bezzecchi | 1'53.656 | Medium | 10 | Medium | 5 |
| 3 | Alex Marquez | 1'53.735 | Medium | 12 | Medium | 6 |
| 4 | Fabio Quartararo | 1'53.766 | Medium | 16 | Medium | 16 |
| 5 | Miguel Oliveira | 1'53.827 | Medium | 11 | Hard | 4 |
| 6 | Ai Ogura | 1'53.902 | Medium | 11 | Medium | 4 |
| 7 | Brad Binder | 1'53.927 | Medium | 12 | Medium | 5 |
| 8 | Enea Bastianini | 1'53.937 | Medium | 12 | Medium | 5 |
| 9 | Joan Mir | 1'53.987 | Medium | 8 | Medium | 5 |
| 10 | Pol Espargaro | 1'54.030 | Medium | 5 | Medium | 5 |
| 11 | Raul Fernandez | 1'54.067 | Medium | 10 | Hard | 3 |
| 12 | Johann Zarco | 1'54.103 | Medium | 12 | Soft | 16 |
| 13 | Augusto Fernandez | 1'54.152 | Medium | 5 | Medium | 4 |
| 14 | Francesco Bagnaia | 1'54.185 | Medium | 11 | Medium | 5 |
| 15 | Fermin Aldeguer | 1'54.255 | Medium | 4 | Medium | 4 |
| 16 | Jack Miller | 1'54.290 | Medium | 9 | Medium | 7 |
| 17 | Fabio di Giannantonio | 1'54.346 | Medium | 12 | Medium | 10 |
| 18 | Alex Rins | 1'54.377 | Medium | 12 | Medium | 12 |
| 19 | Jorge Martin | 1'54.382 | Medium | 15 | Medium | 5 |
| 20 | Pedro Acosta | 1'54.520 | Medium | 16 | Medium | 14 |
| 21 | Luca Marini | 1'54.694 | Medium | 12 | Medium | 5 |
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