Zarco Quickest In Americas Practice
Calum Gill 21:09 08/04/2022
Pramac’s Johann Zarco was quickest in the second MotoGP Friday practice session at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.
The pace in the second session was considerably better than in the opening one right away, and an early soft-tyre run from Álex Rins shortly after the halfway point elevated him a second clear of the lap he’d managed to top FP1. The others followed his lead in the final minutes, with Jack Miller producing the first sub-2:03 lap of the weekend that looked to stand a good chance of being the best of the session - only for Zarco to then find an extra quarter of a second. There was just enough time left for many of Zarco’s rivals to have a go at surpassing his 2:02.542 laptime, but none came anywhere near, as he and Miller made up a Ducati 1-2.
Yamaha’s reigning champion Fabio Quartararo stopped it from being a Ducati 1-2-3 by jumping ahead of Enea Bastianini (Gresini) for third at the chequered flag, while Rins wound up shuffled down to fifth. He was 0.011 seconds ahead of Marc Márquez, with Honda’s six-time champion returning this weekend after recovering from double vision. Maverick Viñales was the top Aprilia in seventh, four places up on his team-mate Aleix Espargaró, who scored a historic first MotoGP win for the brand last weekend. Joan Mir (Suzuki) took eighth, followed by Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín (Pramac), the pair making it five Ducatis in the top 10.
Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) found himself directly behind his brother, ahead of Brad Binder who was the lead KTM all the way down in 13th, 0.996 seconds off the pace, with team-mate Miguel Oliveira a puzzling last another two seconds down. Valentino Rossi protege Luca Marini classified 14th, ahead of fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso (RNF Yamaha) and Álex Márquez (LCR Honda). Márquez's teammate Takaaki Nakagami was 17th, followed by Gresini's Fabio Di Giannantonio and VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi, who is currently the highest placed rookie in the rider's championship.
Remy Gardner found himself 20th on the Tech3 KTM, ahead of factory Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli, who struggled for pace all day, failing to breach the 02:04.5 barrier. The only crash in the session belonged to RNF Yamaha’s rookie Darryn Binder, coming at the very end of the running. The South African was classified in 22nd place, ahead of Raúl Fernández on the other Tech3 KTM, and Mandalika winner Oliveira.
