MÁRQUEZ BOUNCES BACK FROM CRASH TO TOP FRIDAY SESSION AT COTA
Marc Márquez recovered from a heavy crash earlier in the day to finish fastest in the second practice session at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin.
The Ducati rider had a difficult start after his morning crash, but he slowly built his pace during the session. In the final minutes, when riders switched to qualifying simulations, he set the fastest lap of 2:00.927 to take the top position.
One of the biggest surprises of the session was Ai Ogura, who came very close to beating Márquez. The Trackhouse Racing rider finished just 0.053 seconds behind, showing strong pace throughout the session.
Fabio Di Giannantonio continued his impressive form by finishing third for the VR46 Racing Team, ahead of championship leader Marco Bezzecchi on the Aprilia.
Francesco Bagnaia looked competitive early on and led for much of the first part of the session. However, when the pace increased on soft tires, he dropped down the order and risked missing out on a direct place in Q2. A late improvement helped him recover to eighth place.
Behind the top riders, Alex Márquez finished fifth, followed by Pedro Acosta in sixth and Jorge Martín in seventh. Luca Marini was the best Honda rider in ninth, while Enea Bastianini completed the top ten.
Looking further down the classification, Joan Mir finished just outside the top ten in eleventh place, followed by Fermin Aldeguer in twelfth. Raul Fernandez took thirteenth, while Johann Zarco ended the session in fourteenth.
The final positions saw Fabio Quartararo in fifteenth and Jack Miller in sixteenth, followed by Diogo Moreira, Toprak Razgatlioglu, and Brad Binder. Franco Morbidelli ended the session in twentieth place, while Alex Rins completed the classification in twenty-first.
The session started in chaotic fashion, with multiple crashes in the first ten minutes. Riders including Di Giannantonio, Miller, Bastianini, Morbidelli, Acosta, and Ogura all fell in quick succession. Later in the session, there were also crashes for Razgatlioglu and Binder.
Despite the incidents, the session ended with Márquez on top, showing strong recovery and pace ahead of the rest of the field as the weekend continues in Austin.
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