Marc Marquez reestablished his dominance at the Circuit of The Americas as he set the quickest time in FP2.
It was all change for FP2, with the track drying and the rain holding off it gave riders a chance to head out and attempt to set what could be their fastest lap of the two days of practice. The time’s from FP2 might be very important, as with more rain forecast for tomorrow they could decide who makes it through to the second qualifying session on Saturday.
Riders initially headed out on wet tyres to get a feel for the track conditions, but came back in to switch to slicks as the racing line began to dry with about 20 minutes to go. This led to a frantic end to proceedings as riders attempted to take advantage of what could be the only dry session of the weekend.
Repsol Honda’s Marquez was the only rider to break the 2’05 barrier, as he set a 2’04.835 to finish three-tenths ahead of the CWM LCR Honda of Cal Crutchlow (+0.327s) who is benefitting from a chassis and seat upgrade to his RC213V in Austin, and was the fastest of the Satellite riders.
Completing the provisional front row was the Ducati Team GP15 of Andrea Iannone (+0.355s). Seven-tenths back from Marquez was Aleix Espargaro on the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR in 4th, with Andrea Dovizioso in 5th on the second Factory Ducati. Valentino Rossi, the man who rolled back the years to claim the race win in Qatar, ended the day in 6th on the leading Yamaha.
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith crashed out during the session but was unhurt, while Athina Forward Racing’s Stefan Bradl (+1.155s) was the leading Open class rider in 8th place.
Click here for the combined MotoGP Practice times from Friday, FP3 is scheduled to start at 9:55am local time on Saturday in Austin.
MotoGP Press Release