Austin, MotoGP (FP2): Marquez goes on, Quartararo does the job – gp-inside.com

Marc Marquez completed the first day of the Grand Prix des Amériques with the best time, on an Austin track where he was the favorite. Fabio Quartararo (3rd) took advantage of the return of the sun to regain the top of the ranking. His compatriot Johann Zarco (8th) is in the right car.

Perhaps the second free practice session will be one of the most important of the weekend in Austin. With the first performed in the wet, this Friday morning, and the risk of showers before the third, on Saturday, this FP2 could be the only one of the three contested in the dry. Hence the need to get good lap times, before being in the top-10 directly qualifying for Q2.

No one doubted the presence of Marc Marquez in this top-10, and the six-time winner of the Grand Prix des Amériques did not disappoint. The charge of Jack Miller (2nd), in the last moments of the session, was not enough to beat his 2’04.164, which allows him to lead the classification by 15 small thousandths. The eight-time world champion has shown ease and seems to still have it under his elbow, on one of his favorite circuits.

In difficulty in the wet, in FP1 (15th), Fabio Quartararo is the big beneficiary of the return of the sun to Texas. The French climbed to third place and pushed back by 3 tenths his rival for the title, Francesco Bagnaia (6th). Join the two Honda riders, Pol Espargaro (4th) and Takaaki Nakagami (5th), obviously well inspired by the performance of their leader Marc Marquez.

Nine days after his compartment syndrome operation, Johann Zarco (8th) made a place in the top-10, just behind his teammate Jorge Martin (7th). Alex Rins (9th) takes on the costume of the best Suzuki rider of the day, while rookie Enea Bastianini (10th) once again confirms the progress made in recent weeks.

First defeated, Brad Binder (11th) fails 16 thousandths from the provisional qualifying place for Q2. However, he acts as the first representative of KTM, after Miguel Oliveira (18th) crashed. The two men will cross their fingers to have a dry FP3 to improve. The same goes for the world champion Joan Mir (13th), but also Aleix Espargaro (19th), who fell at the end of the session.

If only Fabio Quartararo wears Yamaha’s colors high, the performance of Andrea Dovizioso (14th) is worth mentioning. The Italian, back to competition two weeks ago after ten months of absence, and who continues to rediscover the M1, is less than a second from the leader, and is getting rid of the red lantern position . He pays himself the luxury of getting ahead of the two remaining Yamaha, Franco Morbidelli (15th) and Valentino Rossi (17th).

Austin (GP of the Americas) – FP2 MotoGP:

Fabio Quartararo can clinch his first title this year in Austin

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