Marc Marquez enjoyed a strong start today at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, showing top form right from the morning session and ending the day second-fastest despite an insubstantial tip-off at Turn 11 with 20 minutes to go in FP2.

After ending this morning’s FP1 session in 21st place, the recovering Dani Pedrosa bravely brought his RC213V to 10th place in the FP2 session.

With the weather forecast calling for possible rain tomorrow, Marc’s and Dani’s performances today could prove enough to secure them top-10 overall qualifying positions, which would advance them directly to QP2.

Marc Marquez

2nd 2'04.655

“I’m quite happy with how things are going because I felt strong from the beginning, and we worked for the race. Most importantly, I did my lap time with a hard rear tyre. They also say it may rain tomorrow, so it’s positive to be up in second place. Our pace is already good, but there are a few things we want to improve because I don’t yet feel 100%. This afternoon I had a small crash when I tried another setup, so we need to keep working, also because there are some riders looking strong, in particular Vinales. Today we were able to try several tyres but we must also understand more on that side. Anyway, let’s wait and see; there’s so much that remains between now and Sunday.”

Dani Pedrosa

10th 2'05.761

“I’m happy with this afternoon’s result, as we finally managed to get a bit better position than I was expecting, and this is very positive. That said, both of today’s sessions were tough, especially FP2, because this afternoon I gave maximum effort in order to understand if there’s any reason to race on Sunday. This morning I felt quite a lot of pain, but I just tried to feel what I could do on the bike. My pace wasn’t so good, so I tried to put myself in a better position this afternoon, and I’m very pleased with the outcome. Now we have to try and control the swelling ahead of tomorrow’s action. This is one of our biggest targets now, as the swelling has increased due to the efforts. We’ll try our best to handle a bit better pace tomorrow so that we may approach the race with the aim of getting some points.”

MotoGP 2018
Practice Round 3   Americas

FP2 Classification

Sunny
Humidity
48%
Track Temp
33°C
Air Temp
22°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Iannone Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 2'04.599
2 Marquez Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.056
3 Vinales Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.264
4 Rossi Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.359
5 Crutchlow Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 0.489
6 Rins Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.853
7 Lorenzo Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.888
8 Dovizioso Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1.048
9 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 1.140
10 Pedrosa Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1.162
11 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 1.290
12 Rabat Tito 53 SPA Esponsorama Racing Ducati 1.311
13 Zarco Johann 5 FRA Pramac Racing Ducati 1.334
14 Miller Jack 43 AUS Pramac Racing Ducati 1.417
15 Redding Scott 45 GBR Aprilia Racing Aprilia 1.479
16 Syahrin Hafizh 55 MAL Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1.620
17 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN LCR Honda Honda 1.798
18 Abraham Karel 17 CZE Angel Nieto Team Ducati 1.956
19 Luthi Tom 12 SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 2.026
20 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 2.041
21 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA Angel Nieto Team Ducati 2.084
22 Smith Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 2.434
23 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 2.537
24 Simeon Xavier 10 BEL Esponsorama Racing Ducati 3.422
Location Information

The Circuit Of The Americas is the first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the U.S. near Austin, Texas, with a 5.513km track and a capacity for 120,000 fans. Construction of the impressive 1000-acre facility was completed late in 2012, with MotoGP lining up at the track for the first time… read more.

Length 5.513 kilometres / 3.426 miles
Width 15 metres
Left corners 11
Right corners 9
Longest straight 1.2 kilometres / 0.746 miles
Constructed 2012
Modified 2018 (track repairs to the surface to smooth down bumps)

9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd Austin, TX 78617 - View in Google Maps

circuitoftheamericas.com

Records

Pole Position 2m 02.039s (162.6 km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2022)
Race Lap 2m 03.521s (160.6 km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2022)
Race Time 41m 23.11s (159.8 km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2022)
2022 Race Winner Enea Bastianini (Ducati)