Austin MotoGP FP2: Maverick Vinales beats the king on his home turf!

Arriving at the COTA (Circuit Of The America) in Austin, Texas, the MotoGP riders obviously all had in mind the reign without the slightest task of Marc Márquez on the American track: in 2013 he became the youngest rider to have won pole. position and also the youngest to achieve victory in the premier category, records which previously belonged to Freddie Spencer, the Spanish rider then repeated these results in the last five editions, winning each time after qualifying in pole position!

In these conditions, and even if every series has an end, the suspense risked being concentrated on obtaining 2nd place, with also a small question about the planing work carried out to try to eliminate the bumps in a coating subjected to pressure from the subsoil.

Concerning the first subject, Maverick Vinales was this morning the only one able to hold on to the Honda driver, the others already being relegated to more than 6 tenths. But will the Yamaha rider be able to keep up the pace when the times drop to 2'04 or even 2'03? And what will he do in the race?

Concerning the 2nd subject, Danilo Petrucci was the most virulent in declaring that the track was definitely not up to MotoGP standards.

The weather conditions are significantly warmer than this morning, with 25° in the air and 42° on the ground, but with rain still forecast tomorrow Saturday, this session takes on its full importance while for the moment only Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Jack Miller, Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi, Pol Espargaro, Fabio Quartararo, Cal Crutchlow, Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone are pre-qualified for Q2.

Here are the available references, with a track record still dating from the Bridgestone era:

MotoGP ™	2018	2019
FP1	2'05.530 Marc Marquez (See here)	2'05.311 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP2	2'04.599 Andrea Iannone (See here)	2'03.857 Maverick Vinales
FP3	2'04.608 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP4	2'04.686 Marc Marquez (See here)
Q1	2'05.169 Pol Espargaro (See here)
Q2	2'03.658 Marc Marquez (See here)
Warm Up	2'04.988 Marc Marquez (See here)
Course	Marquez, Vinales, Iannone (See here)
All time lap record	2'02.135 Marc Marquez 2015

When the red lights go out, Marc Marquez rushes first and has free rein.

On the tire side, the choice is more diversified this morning since, if all the drivers have chosen a front medium, the 3 types of rear tires are also on the track:

alex rins leads the first lap in 2'06.052.

In the next passage, Marc Marquez achieves 2'05.276 then 2'04.719 during the next loop.

The Honda rider is equipped with a swingarm wing, like the Ducati.

From the first minutes, the track appears to be faster than this morning and most of the drivers achieve better sectors. As a reminder, the Q2 bar was at 2'06.692.

Jack Miller et Maverick Vinales move up in the rankings.

The hierarchy of the first run is composed of Marc Marquez, Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Cal Crutchlow, Alex Rins, Aleix Espargaro, Franco Morbidelli, Andrea Dovizioso, Pol Espargaro and Valentino Rossi.

All of these drivers are now pre-qualified for Q2.

fabio quartararo is 11th, Jorge Lorenzo 13th, Johann zarco 13e.

On resumption, Maverick Vinales recovers 2nd place, 2 tenths behind Marc Marquez.

The ranking provisionally pre-qualifies Marc Marquez, Maverick Vinales, Jack Miller, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, Alex Rins, Aleix Espargaro, Valentino Rossi, Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo for Q2 at the end of the 2nd run.

The last run sees first Cal Crutchlow position themselves 2nd, 2 tenths behind Marc Marquez.

Valentino Rossi, then 10th, brings up a soft/soft combination, lights the first 2 sectors in red and climbs to 2nd, a tenth behind Marc Marquez.

In the last minutes, Jack Miller a Marc Márquez in focus. The Pramac driver, provisionally ranked 7th, took full advantage and took pole position in 2'04.005.

In the wake, fabio quartararo achieves the 3rd time but, surprise, Espargaro Pol immediately surpasses it.

2 minutes from the checkered flag, Maverick Vinales achieves 2'03.857 while Marc Marquez gets angry at Andrea Iannone then, a minute later, Valentino Rossi took 2nd position.

There is then only one turn left to Marc Marquez to try to regain his possession, but the Honda driver fails by 44 thousandths.

The big loser of this first day is called Andrea Dovizioso, while Jorge Lorenzo, Johann Zarco and Andrea Iannone continue to suffer...
And rain is still expected tomorrow morning...

See you tomorrow at 16:55 p.m. French time for FP3!

MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas standings in Austin FP2:

Classification and photo credit: MotoGP.com