Marquez tops opening day at Indy

In FP2 for the premier class at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix on Friday, round 10 of the 2014 MotoGP™ World Championship, Marc Marquez outpaced the rest of the field, while Andrea Iannone and Jorge Lorenzo were also in the top three around the modified IMS track.

World Champion Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) registered a 1:32.882 lap towards the end of FP2 to end the day on top, as he shaved more than 1.5s off his best lap from the morning. Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were respectively 0.222s and 0.542s behind Marquez.

Marquez commented, “It was not so bad, we came back from the holidays and had a slow start with the rain. I’m happy because in the afternoon we could do a lot more work. The track grip changes each time we go out so we have to change the set up a lot. Hopefully we get more dry track time tomorrow.”

Track and weather conditions improved throughout the day at Indianapolis and quick laps were set almost immediately in Free Practice 2. Marquez led initially before Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac) all set quick laps. The current MotoGP World Champion was the only rider to go below the 1:33 mark.

After FP2 Iannone commented, “Yes, I am very happy for this first day. I have a good feeling and this track is beautiful for my bike. Usually it is difficult for me and the bike but today, and this year, we improved my performance and the bike’s.

“The asphalt is great, very good. It has improved a lot and the corners are faster, but very similar. It’s just much easier and more enjoyable.”

Lorenzo was able to achieve third despite having the slowest top speed of the top 10 riders.

“Finally the resurfaced track doesn’t seem so bad. The three corners that were in the past maybe a little bit too slow we don’t have to use first gear for now so we don’t lose so much speed on our competitors. Last year the bumps were quite bad, now the resurfacing of the track means they are gone,” commented Lorenzo.

“We were the only ones to start the second practice with the soft rear tire, the other ones took the old one from the morning so they could use a new soft tire at the end. Finally we tried the hard option and it was ok, so it could be the tire for Sunday.”

In the morning session as the riders got a feel for the slightly shorter new MotoGP Indianapolis layout – with several modified corners and a resurfaced infield area – a 1:34.535 lap had been enough to put Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) top of the timesheet. Rossi was ninth best in FP2, trailing pace setter Marquez by 0.716s.

The FP2 top five was completed by the experienced pair of Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team), both of them just over half a second off P1.

The Friday top 10 was completed by Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), Hernandez, Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing), the aforementioned Rossi and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3).

Standing in for Nicky Hayden, Leon Camier (Drive M7 Aspar) faced up admirably to the challenge of learning a new track, a new bike, new tires and new brakes as he improved by more than 3.5s in FP2 from his FP1 best, though he was unsurprisingly at the bottom of the timesheet.

Dominique Aegerter took the number one spot in Moto2™ FP2, in front of Sandro Cortese and Tito Rabat.

Sachsenring pole setter and race winner Aegerter (Technomag carXpert) showed his strength again to lead by 0.01s from Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) with a 1:37.518 best lap around Indy’s modified Grand Prix layout.

Championship leader Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) was 0.179s down on Aegerter in third place. Meanwhile Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) and Anthony West (QMMF Racing Team) completed the front five.

The Friday afternoon practice for the Moto3™ category at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix saw Isaac Viñales set the pace, as Alex Marquez and Jack Miller also registered top three lap times – in a session interrupted by rain.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s standings leader Miller had topped the FP1 session with a 1:45.824 as the riders got a feel for the altered corners, the newly resurfaced areas and a slightly shorter overall lap.

FP2 got underway with light rain falling but the pace was immediately faster than the morning outing, before the precipitation became heavier and the riders sheltered in their pit boxes.

However, they were soon able to get back on track and the pace increased in the final 10 minutes with Viñales (Calvo Team) registering a 1:42.507 on his final lap for P1, going over three seconds quicker than in the morning practice.

Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Miller were respectively 0.097s and 0.210s behind Viñales in the top three.

–From motogp.com

MotoGP Practice Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

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