2022 Austin MotoGP, COTA – Free Practice (2) Results

TIMES TO FOLLOW

* Rookie

Official COTA MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 2m 2.135s (2015)
Fastest race lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 2m 3.575s (2014)

Johann Zarco heads a Ducati one-two during Free Practice 2 for the Americas MotoGP in Austin, Texas.

Alex Rins’ 2m 4.007s morning best was soon beaten in the afternoon, with Jack Miller and Enea Bastianini leading the early stages before being split by the Aprilia of Maverick Vinales.

Rins then became the first rider to swap the medium rear tyre for a soft (most chose the hard front throughout) to put Suzuki back on top by half-a-second during the middle stages.

Francesco Bagnaia later replaced factory Ducati team-mate Miller as Rins’ nearest rival, but it wasn’t until ten minutes to go that others finally joined Rins in pursuing a time attack.

Joan Mir briefly made it a Suzuki one-two before Miller finally beat Rins’ 2m 3.030s best by 0.241s. But he wasn’t the only Ducati on a charge, with Zarco pinching P1 and Qatar winner Enea Bastianini slotting into third.

Yamaha’s reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo broke the Desmosedici top three with a last gasp third place, with Rins and the returning Marc Marquez completing the top six.

Marquez, who has missed the last two races after a new episode of double vision, had featured on top of the timesheets on his way to fifth this morning.

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The Repsol Honda star then had a relatively quiet afternoon working on race pace (albeit getting his RCV sideways under braking) before joining in with the time attacks, momentarily peaking at third.

Marquez has won seven of the eight COTA MotoGP events and is considered by many of his rivals to be the favourite this weekend.

Aprilia’s Argentina winner and new world championship leader Aleix Espargaro missed out on a top ten place with eleventh, but team-mate Maverick Vinales delivered two strong sessions to end the day in seventh.

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Mir, Bagnaia and Jorge Martin completed the top ten, but times are expected to improve further during tomorrow’s FP3.

Mandalika winner Miguel Oliveira will certainly hope that’s the case after being left 24th and last on Friday.

Subsurface soil movement means large bumps have been a persistent issue at COTA, resulting in the latest partial resurfacing for the 2022 event, covering Turns 2-10 and 12-16.

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Track schedule in UK time – 2022 Austin MotoGP

Friday
3pm-3.40pm: Moto2 Free Practice 1
3.55pm-4.40pm: MotoGP Free Practice 1
4.55pm-5.35pm: Moto3 Free Practice 3

7.15pm-7.55pm: Moto2 Free Practice 2
8.10pm-8.55pm: MotoGP Free Practice 2
9.10pm-9.50pm: Moto3 Free Practice 2

Saturday
3pm-3.40pm: Moto2 Free Practice 3
3.55pm-4.40pm: MotoGP Free Practice 3
4.55pm-5.35pm: Moto3 Free Practice 3

6.35pm-6.50pm: Moto2 Qualifying 1
7pm-7.15pm: Moto2 Qualifying 2
7.30pm-8pm: MotoGP Free Practice 4
8.10pm-8.25pm: MotoGP Qualifying 1
8.35pm-8.50pm: MotoGP Qualifying 2
9.10pm-9.25pm: Moto3 Qualifying 1
9.35pm-9.50pm: Moto3 Qualifying 2

Sunday
3.20pm-3.30pm: Moto2 warm-up
3.40pm-4pm: MotoGP warm-up
4.10-4.20pm: Moto3 warm-up

5.20pm: Moto2 race
7pm: MotoGP race
8.30pm: Moto3 race