Austin MotoGP FP4: Marquez dominates… very narrowly!

Morally, the MotoGP riders had an additional session in the dry since the rain was expected this weekend morning and finally came at the very end of the session.

A boon for Johann Zarco who took advantage of it to join the top 10 drivers going directly to Q2.

This FP4 is now presented on a track that is now generally dry, which will allow the MotoGP settings to be correctly refined in view of an expected race in the dry: hard suspensions, full tank and degraded tires...

The sky is cottony, and temperatures of 20 and 22° in the air and on the track.

Here are the references available at the start of this 30-minute session:

Austin MotoGP™	2017	2018
FP1	2'04.923 Maverick Vinales	2'05.530 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP2	2'04.061 Marc Marquez	2'04.599 Andrea Iannone (See here)
FP3	2'03.979 Maverick Vinales	2'04.608 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP4	2'04.201 Marc Marquez	2'04.686 Marc Marquez
Qualification 1	2'04.438 Jack Miller
Qualification 2	2'02.741 Marc Marquez
Warm Up	2'04.070 Marc Marquez
Course	Marquez, Rossi, Pedrosa
All time lap record	2'02.135 Marc Marquez 2015

Karel Abraham is the quickest to launch when the red lights go out. The drivers chose very diversified tires ranging from soft/soft to Maverick Vinales up to medium hard for Andrea Dovizioso, Jack Miller et Esteve Rabat.

Marc Márquez (soft/medium) sets a first milestone in 2'04.686 after 4 laps, relegating Andrea Iannone, Jack Miller, Valentino Rossi, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso et Bradley Smith more than a second. Conversely, Maverick Vinales does not seem to benefit from its tender/tender combination and only appears in 17th position.

A little before mid-session, Johann zarco moves to 5th place, 1,5 seconds behind the leader. Cal Crutchlow is then the first driver to reduce his gap with Marc Márquez just under a second.

At the end of the first run, the hierarchy is composed of Marc Marquez, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Iannone, Jack Miller, Valentino Rossi, Johann Zarco, Bradley Smith, Andrea Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaro et Dani Pedrosa.

We note at this moment, the first 4 use a medium front/hard rear combination.

This is the moment when Maverick Vinales, equipped in soft/medium is positioned at 7 then 3/10 of number 93, just before Jack Miller loses control of his Ducati at turn number 19. The Australian rider gets up safe and sound.

Valentino Rossi (medium/medium) climbs to 3rd place, 4 tenths from his teammate.

In the last seconds, Maverick Vinales, which now rolls with its fins, comes close to the time of Marc Marquez.

Photo credits: MotoGP.com