4/12/2014 Marquez untouchable on Friday in Texas - [email protected] - Sporting Scribe Mail

Red Bull Grand Prix Of The Americas Friday, 11 April Marquez untouchable on Friday in Texas

MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez was fastest in both Friday free practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas, ending FP2 a considerable 1.005s margin quicker than , whilst was third best

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M.Marquez (SPA) A.Dovizioso (ITA)

D.Pedrosa (SPA) A.Espargaro (SPA)

Marquez set a best time of 2’03.490 to lead the way at the state-of-the-art track in Texas where he took his first premier class victory in 2013 and on Saturday he will be a clear favourite to repeat his from last year. Indeed Marquez set his best Friday time on a hard tyre and was less than 0.5s from his own pole record set on a medium tyre 12 months ago.

Ducati Team’s Dovizioso was the ‘best of the rest’ using a softer tyre, whilst Marquez led his Repsol teammate Pedrosa by 1.133s. Like Dovizioso his Italian compatriot and fellow Ducati rider Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) made use of a soft compound to lap fourth quickest.

The best of the Yamaha riders was (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) at a circuit which he admits he found tricky last season. The nine-time World Champion trailed Marquez by 1.3s.

The impressive Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) lapped sixth quickest on the ‘Open’ Yamaha and outpaced Factory-equipped rivals Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) and Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) in seventh and eighth respectively. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/1455315bc979a0e3 1/3 4/12/2014 Marquez untouchable on Friday in Texas - [email protected] - Sporting Scribe Mail

Lorenzo was apparently unable to make the most of the re-introduced 2013-spec Bridgestone tyre which has been brought to this round and for which he stated a pre-season preference over the 2014 version.

Britons (Ducati Team) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) rounded out the top ten behind Lorenzo. The MotoGP riders will return to action in Saturday’s FP3 at 9.55am local time in Texas (GMT -5).

Moto2™: Frenchman Zarco quickest again in second session

Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) was the fastest Moto2™ representative at the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas on Friday, leading from (Technomag carXpert) and Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) in FP2

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Johann Zarco (FRA)

Zarco’s best time of 2’10.839 put him ahead of his rivals, with only Aegerter able to get within 0.25s of the pace man. Aegerter had crashed with Ricky Cardus early in FP2 but both escaped major injury.

Rabat, meanwhile, was 0.3s off Zarco in third and an intriguing day of qualifying lies ahead on Saturday.

Also in the hunt for front row slots should be the likes of impressive rookie and Moto3™ World Champion Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40), Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Mika Kallio Marc (Marc VDS Racing Team) who were all in the top six, despite a light crash for Simeon.

Luis Salom (Pons HP 40), Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), the aforementioned Cardus (Tech 3) and (NGM Forward Racing) were all in the top ten and within 0.9s of Zarco.

Azlan Shah (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) also walked away from a spill, whilst Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) had a heavy crash at Turn 18 at the end of the session.

https://mMail.googtle.ocom3/ma™il/u/0/:#i nbVox/1a455z315qbc9u79ae0e3z ends day one in Austin on the 2/3 4/12/2014 Marquez untouchable on Friday in Texas - [email protected] - Sporting Scribe Mail Moto3™: Vazquez ends day one in Austin on the pace

The opening day of the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas saw Efren Vazquez (SaxoPrint-RTG) on the pace in the Moto3™ class, ahead of Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team) in the top three

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Efren Vazquez (SPA)

Honda-equipped Vazquez set down a late 2’16.696 best lap to outpace KTM rider Miller by 0.129s, whilst third fastest rider Viñales was over half a second behind – also on a KTM.

Jakub Kornfeil (Calvo Team) and Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) were also in the top five, both well under a second off Vazquez’ pace setting lap.

Niccolo Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN), Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0), Juanfran Guevara (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3), Enea Bastianinni (Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3) and Eric Granado (Calvo Team) were all in the top ten.

There were crashes for Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Scott Deroue (RW Racing GP) and Matteo Ferrari (San Carlo Team Italia) but all escaped unharmed.

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