With perhaps his strongest Friday of the season, Marc Marquez secured his spot in Q2 without issue as he consistently lapped inside the top ten. Joan Mir was the victim of an unlucky crash but avoided serious injury. A day of contrasting fortunes marked the fi View this email in your browser   Practice Report Friday, Nov 24th 2023   Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana MotoGP 2023   Round 20 Marquez on pace with ticket straight to Q2 With perhaps his strongest Friday of the season, Marc Marquez secured his spot in Q2 without issue as he consistently lapped inside the top ten. Joan Mir was the victim of an unlucky crash but avoided serious injury. A day of contrasting fortunes marked the final Friday of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season for the Repsol Honda Team. Both Marc Marquez and Joan Mir started in a steady fashion, building their speed in the opening laps of the morning session. Although the conditions were cold to begin with, the Spanish sun would steadily heat the track to provide record-breaking conditions on the new surface. Donning a special 'Kansha' helmet to highlight his six most memorable moments with HRC, Marc Marquez was straight to work and purely focused on the task at hand. Building a solid foundation with seventh, 0.373s from first, in Free Practice 1, the eight-time World Champion would maintain the small gap to the leaders in the afternoon as the 2016 lap record finally fell. A best time of 1'29.459 kept Marquez in seventh overall and guaranteed a slot on the front four rows of the grid for both of races. With a weekend like no other in front of him, Marquez admitted he began the weekend taking extra risks in order to end his current time in the Repsol Honda Team on a high note. Carrying this speed into Qualifying on Saturday will be crucial for battling at the front come the Sprint and Sunday's Grand Prix, the tight Valencia circuit notoriously difficult to overtake at. Joan Mir suffered a luckless start to the Valencia GP. A fall at Turn 8 within the opening minutes of the session saw the #36 land heavily, immediately heading to the medical centre and then local hospital for further checks. Fortunately, both sets of scans revealed no major damage, Mir sitting out the afternoon session with a pending medical check on Saturday morning. Marc Marquez  93 Seventh  1'29.459 "Today I felt good on the bike, and I decided to take some extra risks. Even in the morning I was quite convinced of my possibilities, and I changed my mentality a bit to take a lot more risks, but I feel it's the way to do it this weekend. My concentration is 100% on riding to the best of my abilities on the Repsol Honda Team RC213V. I was able to do the time attack alone, which is something that has been quite complicated this season. Tomorrow, we aim to follow the same plan, we will see what possibilities we have after Qualifying because it's always very tricky to overtake here." Friday Practice - Valencia Grand Prix Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 1'29.142 2 Martin Jorge 89 SPA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.147 3 Zarco Johann 5 FRA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.154 4 Di Giannantonio Fabio 49 ITA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 0.253 5 Bezzecchi Marco 72 ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 0.254 6 Binder Brad 33 RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.260 7 Marquez Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.317 8 Fernandez Raul 25 SPA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 0.328 9 Miller Jack 43 AUS Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.339 10 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 0.429 11 Bastianini Enea 23 ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.431 12 Marquez Alex 73 SPA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 0.472 13 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.473 14 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.633 15 Bagnaia Francesco 1 ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.659 16 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN LCR Honda Honda 0.860 17 Marini Luca 10 ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 1.201 18 Fernandez Augusto 37 SPA Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 1.303 19 Rins Alex 42 SPA LCR Honda Honda 1.322 20 Savadori Lorenzo 32 ITA Aprilia Racing Test Team Aprilia 1.653 21 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 1.798 22 Mir Joan 36 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda DNS Copyright Free Images For editorial use only, click here to download images. Location Information The Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana was completed in 1999 and held rounds of the MotoGP and Spanish Motorcycle Championships in the same year. The Cheste track has several layouts, running anti-clockwise with varying lengths. MotoGP events are held on a 4km track comprising of five right handed corners, eight… read more. Length 4.005 kilometres / 2.489 miles Width 12 metres Left corners 9 Right corners 5 Longest straight 0.876 kilometres / 0.544 miles Constructed 1999 Circuit Records Pole Position 1m 29.401s (161.2km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2016) Race Lap 1m 31.042s (158.3km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2021) Race Time 41m 22.250s (156.8 km/h) Alex Rins (Suzuki, 2022) 2022 Race Winner Alex Rins (Suzuki) Circuito de la Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Spain –  View in Google Maps www.circuitvalencia.com You are receiving this email because you have registered your interest with Honda Racing CorporationIf you no longer want to receive emails from Repsol Honda Team - MotoGP, please click here to unsubscribe .