Màrquez dominates MotoGP practice in Austin

Marc Màrquez has set the pace during practice for the second round of the MotoGP World Championship by laying down the fastest times in both of Friday’s sessions at the Circuit of Americas.

MotoGP’s latest star has continued his form from pre-season testing at the Texan circuit, where the young Spaniard was the rider to catch.

Dani Pedrosa on the sister Honda factory bike was second quickest, half a second behind his teammate with German Stefan Bradl over a second slower than Màrquez’s time, in third.

Màrquez’s blistering lap of 2m05.031 came late in the piece and was over three seconds quicker than his Practice 1 effort which was effected by cold and windy conditions as well as the challenge of the dusty surface and an unfamiliar track.

Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were fourth and fifth respectively on the factory Yamahas, albeit over a second and a half slower than the front running Marquez.

Randy de Puniet crashed wildy in the final section of the circuit in Practice 2, but avoided injury despite some scary moments as he balanced on his out-of-control Aprilia while it careered to the ground.

Aleix Espargaro set the CRT pace in 11th while Australian Bryan Staring struggled to get to grips with the new track, setting the 22nd fastest time on the back of his Gresini FTR-Honda.

“Once again it’s all new to me and on this track it’s certainly more difficult,” said Staring.

“It’s a circuit difficult to interpret and in the morning we also had huge problems with grip which did not put me at ease.

“At the end of the day I talked a lot with my team who continue to be a great help and we will continue working on things to improve our times.”

The third practice session, deciding which ten riders move directly into Q2 Qualifying, commences on Saturday at 9:55am local time (GMT -5).

Practice 2 times

Cla	Nº	Rider	Bike	Time	Delay	Laps	km/h
1	93	Marc Márquez	Honda	2’05.031		16	158.735
2	26	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	2’05.585	0.554	16	158.034
3	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	2’06.173	1.142	16	157.298
4	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	2’06.637	1.606	14	156.721
5	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	2’06.868	1.837	17	156.436
6	35	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	2’06.899	1.868	17	156.398
7	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	2’07.236	2.205	12	155.984
8	19	Alvaro Bautista	Honda	2’07.256	2.225	16	155.959
9	69	Nicky Hayden	Ducati	2’07.699	2.668	17	155.418
10	11	Ben Spies	Ducati	2’08.034	3.003	15	155.011
11	41	Aleix Espargaró	ART/Aprilia	2’08.299	3.268	12	154.691
12	68	Yonny Hernández	ART/Aprilia	2’09.374	4.343	16	153.406
13	38	Bradley Smith	Yamaha	2’09.424	4.393	16	153.347
14	14	Randy de Puniet	ART/Aprilia	2’09.739	4.708	14	152.974
15	29	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	2’09.860	4.829	16	152.832
16	17	Karel Abraham	ART/Aprilia	2’10.411	5.380	16	152.186
17	71	Claudio Corti	FTR Kawasaki	2’10.720	5.689	15	151.826
18	7	Hiroshi Aoyama	FTR/Kawasaki	2’11.183	6.152	17	151.290
19	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ioda-Suter/BMW	2’11.614	6.583	17	150.795
20	70	Michael Laverty	PBM/Aprilia	2’11.828	6.797	14	150.550
21	52	Lukas Pesek	Ioda-Suter/BMW	2’12.230	7.199	16	150.093
22	67	Bryan Staring	FTR Honda	2’12.462	7.431	15	149.830
23	5	Colin Edwards	FTR Kawasaki	2’12.504	7.473	13	149.782
24	8	Héctor Barberá	FTR/Kawasaki	2’12.573	7.542	13	149.704
25	79	Blake Young	APR/Kawasaki	2’13.158	8.127	15	149.046
–	44	Mike Barnes	BCL/Suzuki	2’16.169	11.138	14	145.75

Practice 1 Times

Cla	Nº	Rider	Bike	Time	Delay	Laps	km/h
1	93	Marc Márquez	Honda	2’08.756		16	154.142
2	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	2’09.009	0.253	13	153.840
3	26	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	2’10.356	1.600	15	152.250
4	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	2’10.665	1.909	16	151.890
5	69	Nicky Hayden	Ducati	2’10.801	2.045	17	151.732
6	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	2’10.828	2.072	15	151.701
7	19	Alvaro Bautista	Honda	2’10.910	2.154	15	151.606
8	35	Cal Crutchlow	Yamaha	2’11.232	2.476	16	151.234
9	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	2’11.929	3.173	15	150.435
10	11	Ben Spies	Ducati	2’12.813	4.057	15	149.434
11	68	Yonny Hernández	ART/Aprilia	2’13.058	4.302	14	149.159
12	71	Claudio Corti	FTR Kawasaki	2’13.321	4.565	15	148.864
13	38	Bradley Smith	Yamaha	2’13.339	4.583	17	148.844
14	5	Colin Edwards	FTR Kawasaki	2’13.694	4.938	15	148.449
15	41	Aleix Espargaró	ART/Aprilia	2’13.970	5.214	13	148.143
16	14	Randy de Puniet	ART/Aprilia	2’14.530	5.774	17	147.526
17	17	Karel Abraham	ART/Aprilia	2’14.828	6.072	13	147.200
18	29	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	2’14.859	6.103	15	147.167
19	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ioda-Suter/BMW	2’16.465	7.709	15	145.435
20	7	Hiroshi Aoyama	FTR/Kawasaki	2’16.481	7.725	17	145.418
21	67	Bryan Staring	FTR Honda	2’17.441	8.685	16	144.402
22	8	Héctor Barberá	FTR/Kawasaki	2’17.685	8.929	12	144.146
–	70	Michael Laverty	PBM/Aprilia	2’18.338	9.582	15	143.466
–	52	Lukas Pesek	Ioda-Suter/BMW	2’18.684	9.928	14	143.108
–	79	Blake Young	APR/Kawasaki	2’19.440	10.684	7	142.332
–	44	Mike Barnes	BCL/Suzuki	2’21.530	12.774	11	140.230

Watch the Honda factory team’s video preview to the Austin event.