Marc Marquez led the opening practice session for the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, setting a 2m 05.530s lap late in the session.
The Spaniard, who remains unbeaten in every GP held at COTA, led the factory Yamaha duo of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales by four and seven tenths of a second respectively.
Completing the top five were Jorge Lorenzo and championship leader Cal Crutchlow for LCR, while Qatar GP winner Andrea Dovizioso managed to end the session sixth fastest on the second of the works Ducati’s.
Takaaki Nakagami shone in his first taste of the COTA circuit in the premier class, managing to put both LCR Honda’s in the top seven, just 1.4 seconds behind Marquez’s time and therefore finishing as top rookie in the process.
Both Suzuki’s started the weekend in the top ten, Andrea Iannone leading Alex Rins in eighth and tenth respectively.
Johann Zarco, who currently sits third in the MotoGP rider’s championship, failed to set a time until more than halfway through the session after his first Tech 3 Yamaha M1 gave up the ghost early on, an engine failure thought to be the culprit. He ended up ninth between the Suzuki’s.
Dani Pedrosa, who is attempting to ride this weekend with a broken wrist caused by his clash with Zarco in Argentina, could only manage the 21st fastest time, over 3.5 seconds from the top sport. Pedrosa will likely evaluate whether to continue for the rest of the weekend after FP2 this evening.
