Marc VDS rider Alex Marquez continued to set the pace in Austin after topping the final practice session ahead of Miguel Oliveira.
The Marc VDS team have been on supreme form all weekend, Marquez and team-mate Franco Morbidelli leading the charge at the end of Friday’s running. For much of FP2, it was double race winner in 2017 Morbidelli who topped the standings, the Italian focusing on race set-up.
As the session drew to a close, Marquez fired in the best lap of the weekend with a 2m10.164s to go just under a tenth and a half clear of KTM’s Oliveira, the Austrian marque impressing at a circuit they have no data of.
Morbidelli was relegated to third by session’s end, but just 0.145s off the pace, which sets up a tantalising qualifying segment later this afternoon.
Honda Team Asia’s Takaaki Nakagami has largely flown under the radar in Texas so far, the Japanese rider coming into today’s action 10th on the combined times. In FP3, Nakagami guided his Kalex to fourth ahead of Italtrans’ Mattia Pasini.
Tom Luthi was almost seven tenths off the pace, but will be happy with sixth spot at a track he hasn’t enjoyed the greatest amount of success at. Fabio Quartararo took his maiden grand prix podium at the Circuit of the Americas back in 2015, and is running well in his debut Moto2 race at the Texan venue in seventh.
Xavier Simeon was a decent eighth on the Tasca Racing machine, with Lorenzo Baldassarri and Axel Pons rounding out the top 10. Dynavolt’s Sandro Cortese was not far behind in 11th, with Luca Marini lucky to take the chequered flag in 12th after almost being wiped out by a late-braking Marcel Schrotter at Turn 12 early in the session.
Yonny Hernandez showed a greater turn of speed for the first time in his Moto2 return down in 13th, with Teluru SAG rider Tetsuta Nagashima also impressing in 14th. Isaac Vinales completed the top 15.
