MotoGP Austin FP2 LIVE: Marc Márquez gives no quarter!

Article updated continuously until the end of the session.

Arriving in Austin, Texas for the Grand Prix of the Americas, championship leader fabio quartararo is 48 points ahead of Francis Bagnaia, 67 on Joan mir, 93 on Johann zarco and 94 on Jack Miller, the only riders who can still mathematically claim the title of 2021 MotoGP world champion, four races from the end of the season.

On paper, the Frenchman's situation seems all the more comfortable as the latter is the only driver on the field to have scored points in each race, and the only one to have always progressed directly to Qualification 2, thus perfectly combining this year the consistency in performance.

In the medium term, all the lights are green for The Devil, at the moment when it presents itself on a Circuit of the Americas marked with a hot iron by a Marc Marquez who won 6 of the 7 past editions, leaving only a crumb behind due to a fall. alex rins in 2019, the last year that COTA hosted the Grands Prix.

To face Texas, fabio quartararo can also remember that he obtained his first GP podium there, in 2015, finishing 2nd in Moto3.
13th, 12th and 15th in the following years, his results were less brilliant in Austin, before arriving in 2019, where a 7th place finalized the Niçois' only race in MotoGP on the 5,5 kilometers of the American track.

Francis Bagnaia, his main opponent in the championship, already knows the taste of victory in Texas having won his second Moto2 race there in Austin in 2018.
The following year, this time in MotoGP, he finished 9th, two places behind a certain… fabio quartararo.

But obviously, several elements will take great pleasure in trying to disrupt this previously established order, starting with a Marc Marquez truly acting like a sheriff in Texas, October weather forecast to be as capricious as April weather, and an asphalt completely redone in 2018 but partially patched since the last Grand Prix in 2019 which led Michelin to provide 4 types of rear tires including an additional extra-hard...

This morning, Marc Márquez, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Miguel Oliveira, Pol Espargaro, Alex Márquez, Alex Rins, Francesco Bagnaia, Brad Binder and Iker Lecuona provisionally pre-qualified for Q2 while the Yamahas, 15th, 17th, 20th and 21st, appeared in clear difficulty in these barely drying conditions. The latest forecasts ultimately anticipate a dry Sunday race after a very wet Saturday, but for the moment it is indeed a dry track which welcomes the MotoGP riders under a clear sky, with temperatures of 30° in the air and 41° on asphalt.

By the time the 21 pilots (Maverick Vinales being absent due to the death of his cousin) are preparing for this second 45-minute session, let's take advantage of these few minutes of live broadcast thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

References available:

MotoGP ™	2019	2021
FP1	2'05.311 Marc Márquez (See here)	2'15.872 Marc Márquez (See here)
FP2	2'03.857 Maverick Viñales (See here)	2'04.164 Marc Márquez (See here)
FP3	Canceled due to storms (See here)
FP4	2'05.478 Marc Márquez (See here)
Q1	2'05.855 Jorge Lorenzo (See here)
Q2	2'03.787 Marc Márquez (See here)
Warm up	2'04.573 Marc Marquez (See here)
Course	Rins, Rossi, Miller (See here)
All time lap record	2'02.135 Marc Márquez 2015

When the red lights go out, all drivers take the track together except fabio quartararo et Francis Bagnaia who allow themselves a few seconds before setting off.

At the pneumatic level, and this is rare enough to be underlined, all the options are in nature...

 fabio quartararo established the first reference in 2'07.529 at the end of the first flying lap, which already makes the ranking established this morning obsolete.

In the next passage, Johann zarco seizing command very briefly before handing it over to Marc Marquez in 2'06.067.

Like this morning in the wet, Jack Miller comes to challenge the supremacy of the Honda driver but we are still in a phase of collective improvement, almost all the drivers lighting the first sector in red...

In the fourth flying lap, the Australian achieved 2'05.681, immediately surpassed by Marc Márquez in 2'05.156.

The Catalan continued his momentum with a 2'05.156 before returning to his box.

fabio quartararo don't hear that Francis Bagnaia follow him...

At the end of this first quarter of an hour, the top 10 is made up of Marc Marquez, Jack Miller, Brad Binder, Fabio Quartararo, Pol Espargaro, Takaaki Nakagami, Jorge Martin, Joan Mir, Miguel Oliveira and Iker Lecuona.

In the wake, Francis Bagnaia rises to 5th position

Curiously, only 7 drivers are in the same second at this time while Valentino Rossi, last, appears with more than three units!

Midway through the session, Johann zarco takes 10th place while Takaaki Nakagami rises to third position.

Miguel Oliveira confirms his good performance this morning in different conditions and brings his KTM to third position.

fabio quartararo uses a different strategy from the other drivers and lines up the laps without stopping...

A quarter of an hour before the end of the session, the four drivers placed behind Marc Márquez, that is to say Jack Miller, Miguel Oliveira, Takaaki Nakagami and Fabio Quartararo, are held in 51/1000 of a second!

When most drivers stop to switch to soft tires, the top 10 is made up of Marc Marquez, Jack Miller, Miguel Oliveira, Takaaki Nakagami, Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaro, Brad Binder, Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco.

On resumption, Iker Lecuona makes a minor mistake at turn #12.

Francis Bagnaia, then eighth, serves as a focal point for Takaaki Nakagami, and the two men on soft tires find themselves at the top of the standings, the Japanese driver registering 2'04.612.

Alex Espargaro minor fall at turn #18 just before Miguel Oliveira do the same to #12.

Three minutes before the flag was lowered, Fabio Quartararo snatches the lead in 2'04.366.

Andrea Dovizioso jumps to sixth position, the two Pramac drivers take fourth and fifth positions, but it's good Marc Márquez once again who climbs to the top of the ranking in 2'04.164.

The last 5 minutes of FP2 in video:

Finally, Marc Márquez, Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo, Pol Espargaro, Takaaki Nakagami, Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Johann Zarco, Alex Rins and Enea Bastianini are pre-qualified for Q2 at the end of a session which perfectly showed the very bumpy side of the American track…

See you tomorrow at 16:55 p.m. for the expected FP3 in the wet…

MotoGP Americas Grand Prix FP2 results:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com