Joan Mir and Miguel Oliveira reported fit in time for the third Grand Prix of the season. Marc Márquez, Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaró, on the other hand, will also miss the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas due to injury. Nevertheless, 22 MotoGP riders are back at the start this weekend.
Stefan Bradl took over the COTA king’s Repsol Honda and the Ducati-Lenovo works team offered Michele Pirro in Austin to replace last year’s winner Bastianini. From this Grand Prix, Jonas Folger will step in for the long-term injured Espargaró in the GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team and will be contesting a MotoGP race weekend for the first time since the Aragón GP in 2017.
For the 29-year-old Bavarian, however, the comeback got off to a rocky start because he was ordered back to the pits on the first lap with a slightly smoking RC16. Less than ten minutes later, Folger was able to continue training. Shortly before, his teammate Augusto Fernández had slipped at turn 12 – not an ideal start for the GASGAS squad.
At halftime of the 45-minute session, Gresini-Ducati newcomer Alex Márquez was leading with a 2:04.222 min. Bradl was 19th after the first run, 2.427 seconds behind. Folger had completed six laps at this point. He slowly approached and was still 6.403 seconds behind.
Red Bull KTM ace Jack Miller then crashed like Augusto Fernández before him at turn 12. Yamaha star Fabio Quartararo, on the other hand, set the new benchmark time of 2:04.125 minutes on a fresh medium rear tire as the final fifteen minutes approached.
With six minutes left on the clock, Folger reduced his gap to the leaders to four seconds. While the German came into the pits, a series of time chases followed in the final minutes.
The fight for the desired top 10 places started in the morning session, because the sky over the COTA was overcast and rain could not be ruled out in the afternoon. Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was the next crash victim at Turn 12 but was able to continue.
In the end, Bezzecchi’s Mooney VR46 teammate Luca Marini set the best time in 2:03.250 minutes, followed by Fabio Quartararo, Johann Zarco, Alex Márquez and Jack Miller. They all already used soft rear tires. Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia were the only ones to make it into the provisional top 10 on fresh medium tyres.
For comparison: Enea Bastianini’s best race lap from last year was 2:03.521 min. The all-time lap record of Jorge Martin, pole setter 2022, is 2 on the 5.513 km long “Circuit of The Americas”. :02.039 mins.
As a reminder: The second training session for the MotoGP riders, which has been decisive for the direct entry into Q2 since this season, begins at 10 p.m. for fans in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
MotoGP result FP1, Austin (14.4):
1. Marini, Ducati, 2:03.250 min
2. Quartararo, Yamaha, +0,150 sec
3. Zarco, Ducati, +0.278
4. Alex Márquez, Ducati, + 0,301
5. Miller, KTM, + 0,426
6. Martin, Ducati, +0.458
7. Bagnaia, Ducati, +0.542
8. Vinales, Aprilia, +0.647
9. Nakagami, Honda, +0.889
10. Brad Binder, KTM, + 0,954
11. Mir, Honda, +1,062
12. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +1,092
13. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +1,114
14. Kidneys, Honda, + 1,202
15. Oliveira, Aprilia, + 1,411
16. Raul Fernandez, Aprilia, +1,654
17. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, +1.656
18. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, + 1,804
19. Augusto Fernández, KTM, + 2,482
20. Bradl, Honda, +2,521
21. Pirro, Ducati, + 2,522
22. Folger, KTM, + 4,926