Moto2 Portugal Test
Marc Marquez, the rising MotoGP star, turned 18-years old Thursday, and he celebrated his birthday at the Estoril Circuit, Portugal, where the third and last day of the Moto2 tests took place as scheduled.
Born on Feb. 17, 1993, the Spainard was last year’s 125cc GP World Champion and is looking to make his mark as he moves into the Moto2 class.
At the most recent Estoril test, the weather gave the Repsol Moto2 rider a break and Marquez was able to complete 30 laps at the Portuguese track with a fastest time of 1:43.2 seconds.
After two days in which the rain and wind prevented him from training in Estoril, Marquez was able to get out on the racetrack to collect additional testing time on his Moto2 machine.
Despite the Estoril Circuit not being completely dry and under high wind condtions, the sun had warmed the asphalt up to a temperature of around 20-degrees Celsius by the afternoon.
That is when the Repsol rider finally took the track after two days of frustrating wait as a dry line had formed where the riders could ride with some safety.
Marc Marquez completed 30 laps to the scene of his epic victory last October. He had only focused on finding new references for the intermediate GP class.
The race track not being in perfect conditions, the rider and his team ruled out trying different options in his 600cc spec-honda Moto2 bike. This work will be done in the following tests sessions that will take place at the Jerez Circuit.
Marc Marquez (1.43.2 sec, 30 laps, 125 km) says: "We could not try what we had in the program for this tests because the weather did not allow us to run in normal conditions, so I only did some laps.
"I tried nothing new because the track was not completely dry and there was only a narrow dry line. I just focused on gathering kilometers with the Moto2 and start taking reference points of this circuit. The feeling was good and now we have to start planning the next tests in Jerez".
Marquez made his championship debut in April of 2008 at the 2008 Portuguese Grand Prix at the age of 15 years and 56 days.
He is currently the youngest Spanish rider to take a pole position or a podium in a motorcycle racing world championship.
