MotoGP Austin Q1 LIVE: Johann Zarco takes the checkered flag, Bezzecchi follows

The cat is not there and the mice are dancing, in the absence of Marc Marquez author of 7 victories on thehe 9 pre-existing editions of the Grand Prix of the Americas on the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas!

To start with George Martin, holder of the circuit record since his pole position last year with a time of 2'02.039, which he almost equaled on the first day thanks to a 2'02.178 at the end of P2. The Spaniard is not the only one to shine Ducati, since we find four in the first five, with one Francis Bagnaia visibly very strong and eager to redeem himself from his Argentinian blunder, an attitude shared to a lesser extent by Luca marini, And a Alex Marquez always present since his time at Borgo Panigale.

In the middle of a quartet, and he's perhaps the man of the first day, alex rins reminds us of two things: that the Honda is far from bad on this heterogeneous route, but above all he has already won in all categories! To be continued, just like Joan mir who accidentally found the motorcycle of Johann zarco at the end of P2…

Yesterday morning in P1, Luca marini, fabio quartararo, Johann zarco, Alex Marquez, Jack Miller, George Martin, Francis Bagnaia, alex rins et Takaaki Nakagami had provisionally qualified for Q2.

The afternoon in P2, we therefore found most of these names with George Martin, Francis Bagnaia, alex rins, Luca marini, Alex Marquez, Maverick Vinales, fabio quartararo, Brad Binder, Alex Espargaro et Jack Miller finally going directly to Q2.

Of the four absent due to injury in Argentina, Pol I will espargaro, Enea Bastianini, Miguel Oliveira et Marc Marquez, only the Portuguese driver returned after his injury to a tendon in his right leg, falling again twice in P2 but showing interesting speed throughout the day.

With Johann zarco et Marco Bezzecchi, But also Miguel Oliveira et Joan mir, Q1 promises to be lively…

MotoGP™ Austin, Texas, USA	2022	2023
P1	2'04.007 Alex Rins (See here)	2'03.250 Luca Marini (See here)
P2	2'02.542 Johann Zarco (See here)	2'02.178 Jorge Martin (See here)
FP	2'02.361 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	2'03.295 Pecco Bagnaia (See here)
FP4	2'02.983 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	XXXXXXX
Q1	2'02487 Jorge Martin (See here)	2'02.387 Johann Zarco (See here)
Q2	2'02.039 Jorge Martin (See here)	(See here)
Sprint	XXXXXXX	(See here)
Warm up	2'03.647 Maverick Vinales (See here)	(See here)
Course	Bastianini, Rins, Miller (See here)	(See here)
All time lap record	2'02.039 Jorge Martin 2022 (See here)

A reminder of the ranking before the start of hostilities:

Here are the live images:

22° in the air and 27° on a dry track with an overcast sky are the conditions offered to pilots for this 15-minute exercise.

The light turns green, Q1 is open! Let's take a look at the riders who will take to the track for Q1: Bezzecchi, Mir, Nakagami, Zarco, Oliveira, Morbidelli, Pirro, Raul Fernandez, Di Giannantonio, Bradl, Augusto Fernandez, Folger.

The first rolling rounds begin: Bezzecchi open in front Mir, Bradl et Raul fernandez. Unsurprisingly, everyone put on a new soft rear tire. The front varies between hard and medium.

Folger fall at turn 11 while Bezzecchi signs the first reference in 2'02.523 ahead Oliveira, Mir et Nakagami.

zarco goes second at 0.222s Bezzecchi.Morbidely is 3rd and first of those excluded. The drivers stopped in the pits to change tires and bring the second round of Time Attack to life.

Bezzecchi returns to the track to try to improve his reference and further secure his passage to Q2. The final phase opens with only zarco et Morbidely still in the stands. Five minutes on the clock! Olive tree and the two GasGas drivers are also back on the road.

Mir go second and leave zarco in Q1 for 2 thousandths… Raul Fernandez falls and causes a yellow flag, we are in the last minute.

Under the checkered flag, zarco signs a 2'02.387 which places him in the lead in front Bezzecchi. The two Ducati riders head towards Q2 in Austin.

Results of Qualifying-1 of the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com