Moto2 went to bed yesterday with a Alex Marquez as boss on the Austin track which hosts the Grand Prix of the Americas, the third meeting of the season. On this Saturday which will decide the starting grid for this Texan stage, the question revolved around the influence on this hierarchy of the new track conditions with lower temperatures than the day before. And which caused so many crashes in MotoGP.
The protagonists also noted that they were part of the only competing category to have been unable to improve on their performances from last year. A disappointment materialized by our traditional table.
| #AmericasGP Moto2 | 2016 | 2017 |
| FP1 | 2'10.156 Alex Rins | 2'11.606 Miguel Oliveira |
| FP2 | 2'09.564 Alex Rins | 2'10.601 Alex Marquez |
| FP3 | 2'09.981 Sam Lowes | |
| QP | 2'08.850 Alex Rins | |
| Warm Up | 2'10.237 Takaaki Nakagami | |
| Course | Rins Lowes Zarco | |
| All time lap record | 2'08.850 Alex Rins 2016 |
The 31° on the track on Friday was followed by a more modest 23° while the air cooled to 16°, which is a change from the 25° that the crowd enjoyed a day before. Blame it on the clouds refusing access to the warm rays of the sun.
The first salvo was the prerogative of a Morbidely which set the benchmark in 2'10.694, the only one below 2'11. During this time, Sandra Cortese played the homing missiles which luckily found no one. A true miracle nonetheless…
Wait for it ...
try not to flinch🙈 #AmericasGP pic.twitter.com/1sBpi5p47b
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) April 22, 2017
The Italian from Marc VDS then hit the nail on the head, this time taking the absolute best performance in 2'10.337. The teammate Alex Marquez was therefore dethroned. For his part, Nakagami recovered by joining the leading trio of the exercise, but more than eight tenths behind the new leader.
The endgame was chosen by fabio quartararo to improve his lot with a good third position given by a fine 2'10.978. His teammate Edgar Pons fell almost during the same period.
Alex Marquez delivered the blow just over two minutes from the end of hostilities by signing a 2'10.164 which will be enough to ensure him the victory of the session. Olive tree took advantage of the last seconds to climb to second position, grilling Morbidely for only three thousandths. Nakagami fourth, led the rest of the chasing pack made up of Pasini, Lüthi and Quarterly. Simeon, Baldassari and Axel Pons completed a top 10 deprived of Suter.
Xavier Vierge finished his work eighteenth with the Mistral610 while Yonny Hernandez was relieved by a thirteenth position which gave him reason to keep his morale up.
#AmericasGP Moto2 FP2: Chronos
1. Alex Marquez SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS (Kalex) 2m 10.164s
2. Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 2m 10.306s
3. Franco Morbidelli ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS (Kalex) 2m 10.309s
4. Takaaki Nakagami JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex)
2m 10.525s
5. Mattia Pasini ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 2m 10.836s
6. Thomas luthi SWI CarXpert Interwetten (Kalex) 2m 10.859s
7. fabio quartararo FRA Pons HP40 (Kalex) 2m 10.892s
8. Xavier Simeon BEL Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 (Kalex) 2m 11.158s
9. Lorenzo Baldassarri ITA Forward Racing Team (Kalex) 2m 11.302s
10. Axel Pons SPA RW Racing GP (Kalex) 2m 11.363s
11. Sandra Cortese GER Dynavolt Intact GP (Suter) 2m 11.392s
12. Luca marini ITA Forward Racing Team (Kalex) 2m 11.411s
13. Yonny Hernandez COL AGR Team (Kalex) 2m 11.424s
14. Tetsuta nagashima JPN Teluru SAG Team (Kalex) 2m 11.505s
15. Isaac Viñales SPA BE-A-VIP SAG Team (Kalex) 2m 11.528s
16. Marcel schrotter GER Dynavolt Intact GP (Suter) 2m 11.545s
17. Hafiz Syahrin MAL Petronas Raceline Malaysia (Kalex)
2m 11.557s
18. Xavi Verge SPA Tech 3 Racing (Tech 3) 2m 11.585s
19. Jesko Raffin SWI Garage Plus Interwetten (Kalex) 2m 11.644s
20. Simone Courses ITA Speed Up Racing (Speed Up) 2m 11.709s
21. Danny Kent GBR Kiefer Racing (Suter) 2m 11.748s
22. Jorge Navarro SPA Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 (Kalex)
2m 11.838s
23. Julian Simon SPA Tech 3 Racing (Tech 3) 2m 11.849s
24. Ricard Cardus SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 2m 12.250s
25. Andrea Locatelli ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 2m 12.577s
26. Edgar Pons SPA Pons HP40 (Kalex) 2m 12.601s
27. Khairul Idham Pawi MAL IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex)
2m 12.676s
28. Francis Bagnaia ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (Kalex) 2m 12.699s
29. Dominique Aegerter SWI Kiefer Racing (Suter) 2m 13.137s
30. Iker Lecuona SPA Garage Plus Interwetten (Kalex) 2m 14.172s
31. Stefano manzi ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (Kalex) 2m 14.509s
32. Axel Bassani ITA Speed Up Racing (Speed Up) 2m 14.937s
