Vinales knocks Marquez off top spot

Maverick Vinales has weakened Marc Marquez’s control at the Americas MotoGP by going quickest at the end of Friday practice, as both factory Ducati riders Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci missed out on the top 10.

The Monster Yamaha rider produced a stunning 2m 03.857s on his final flying lap of FP2 to storm to the top of the times and despite Marquez’s retaliation on his last lap the Repsol Honda rider missed out by 0.044s and had to settle for second place.

Marquez, whose typical on the edge style saw him avoid a couple of hairy moments in the closing stages of FP2, ended up towing Jack Miller during the Australian’s fastest lap effort which initially put the Pramac Ducati rider fastest before improvements from Vinales and Marquez. Valentino Rossi pushed Miller into fourth place with his own late improvement to see both factory Yamahas in the top three.

Cal Crutchlow rounded out the top five on the LCR Honda, a quarter of a second behind the leading effort from Vinales, with Suzuki’s Alex Rins bolting up to sixth place late on.

Pol Espargaro continued his impressive pace on the Red Bull KTM to grab seventh place and with it a provisional Q2 spot. Rain is forecast overnight at Circuit of the Americas which could curtail any quick times in tomorrow’s FP3.

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Franco Morbidelli also secured a potential Q2 place directly ahead of Petronas Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo, while Francesco Bagnaia grabbed the final top 10 place for Pramac Ducati at the end of FP2 to push both factory Ducatis out.

With Dovizioso 11^th, Suzuki’s Joan Mir split the Ducatis with Petrucci 13^th but ahead of Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia.

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Takaaki Nakagami had to settle for 15^th place on the LCR Honda but ahead of factory Honda rider Jorge Lorenzo who continues to struggle for speed 1.3s off the front-runners.