He is the only one to have written his name in the roll of honor of the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas as well as Marc Marquez and today Alex Rins reminded everyone, placing his Suzuki in front of everyone in the first practice session. free for the weekend in Austin, which marks the 500th GP under the Dorna banner.
Despite a technical problem, which had forced him to park his GSX-RR along the track, the Spanish rider really made the difference when he returned to the track with his second bike, managing to improve several times, up to a 2’04 “007 which earned him the best performance of FP1.
After the wonderful victory in Termas de Rio Hondo, Aprilia confirmed itself in excellent shape, even if this time it was Maverick Vinales who took the RS-GP to the top: the rider from Roses came really close to Rins, finishing at only 8 thousandths from his compatriot, a sign that the feeling with the Noale bike is finally blossoming.
However, his teammate, the leader of the World Championship Aleix Espargaro, had a harder time, this time having to settle for the eighth time, accusing a delay of 679 thousandths of Rins’ best time.
The situation is also very similar inside the box of the official Ducati team, with Jack Miller who managed to shine on a track he has always loved, setting the third fastest time, albeit with a gap of 430 thousandths. The other GP22 of Pecco Bagnaia is definitely more in difficulty, with the vice-world champion who had some difficulties in terms of setting and finds himself only 13th at just under a second.
Continuing to scroll through the rankings, in fourth position we find the world champion Fabio Quartararo, who pays over four tenths with his Yamaha. It is true, however, that “El Diablo” has made a big difference for the umpteenth time, given that his is the only M1 in the top positions: Franco Morbidelli and Andrea Dovizioso are in fact in 17th and 18th position respectively.
Marc Marquez’s return seems to be positive. It is true that in Austin we always expect him in front, but if we think that he was stopped by the bad fall of Mandalika, that’s not a bad start: he was the best among the Honda riders, finishing with the fifth fastest time 462 thousandths from the top. .
In his wake is his teammate Pol Espargaro, sixth despite the fact that in the first minutes he crashed at turn 18 and in the final he remained stationary along the track, probably doing a fuel draft test. In general, however, the RC213Vs seem at ease on the Texan track, because Takaaki Nakagami also finished ninth.
The picture of the top 10 is then completed with two Ducatis. Specifically, these are those of Enea Bastianini and Johann Zarco, who finished in seventh and tenth position. The Pramac Racing driver was pushed by Jack Miller to the garage at the end of the session, with his Desmosedici GP probably extinguished due to a warning.
Joan Mir and Jorge Martin are also missing in the top positions, who failed to do better than the 11th and 14th times. For the first time this season, the KTMs seem to be trudging along. The best of the RC16s, in fact, is only in 12th position with Brad Binder, while Miguel Oliveira is even 23rd.
You have to go down to 16th position to find Luca Marini with Mooney VR46’s Ducati, while among the rookies the fastest this time was Raul Fernandez with the 19th time, even if the KTM Tech3 rider was just 60 thousandths ahead of Marco Bezzecchi. At the end of the group, with the 24th and last time, there is Fabio Di Giannantonio.
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