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MotoGP Americas GP: Martin smashes lap record in FP2

Lap times improved dramatically in the hour-long afternoon session compared to FP1 earlier today, with Martin blasting the lap record set by Francesco Bagnaia last year of 2m01.892s with a 2m01.397s.

The Pramac rider, who leads the standings by 18 points, beat FP1 pacesetter Maverick Vinales on the factory Aprilia by 0.076 seconds.

Seven-time COTA race winner Marc Marquez was third with a late 2m01.806s on his year-old Gresini Ducati, as Bagnaia lifted himself into Q2 safety late on in fourth.

Martin set the initial pace in second practice with a 2m04.429s, which was instantly beaten by Ducati’s Enea Bastianini with a 2m04.208s.

Pedro Acosta followed this up with a 2m03.578s on his Tech3 GasGas, before Martin edged clear seconds later with a 2m03.036s inside the first 10 minutes of the session.

This would stand as the benchmark for the next 20 minutes until Vinales, his Aprilia fitted with a new soft rear tyre, fired in a 2m02.983s.

Martin followed close behind, though, and re-established himself at the top of the timesheets with a 2m02.888s.

Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Another 15 minutes passed before Vinales once again took top spot away from Martin with a 2m02.394s, which was followed up by a 2m02.244s from VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio.

But Martin was blowing up the timing screens behind this duo and flashed across the start/finish line with just under 13 minutes remaining with a new lap record of 2m01.397s.

Vinales was the only rider to put this time under threat on his final time attack lap but came up 0.076s short with a 2m01.473s.

Marc Marquez completed the top three with a final lap of 2m01.806s, while Bagnaia ended the session fourth having sat outside of the Q2 places in 12th as second practice entered its closing moments.

Acosta completed the top five and is the only KTM rider inside the Q2 places at the moment, with factory counterpart Brad Binder the next-best RC16 in 14th – 0.585s adrift of the 19-year-old rookie.

Aleix Espargaro was sixth on the sister factory team Aprilia, as Franco Morbidelli bagged his first Q2 appearance as a Pramac Ducati rider.

Bastianini, Di Giannantonio and his VR46 team-mate Marco Bezzecchi rounded out the top 10.

Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez narrowly missed Q2 places for home team Trackhouse Racing’s first Americas GP, while Fabio Quartararo was the leading rider for a Japanese brand in 17th on his Yamaha.

A crash for Joan Mir at the end of the session left him in 20th, with LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco the leading HRC representative in 19th.

MotoGP Americas GP Practice 2 Results

   
1
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5
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 20

2'01.397

  163.486  
2 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 20

+0.076

2'01.473

0.076 163.384  
3 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 18

+0.409

2'01.806

0.333 162.937  
4 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 19

+0.411

2'01.808

0.002 162.935  
5 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 19

+0.569

2'01.966

0.158 162.724  
6 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 17

+0.627

2'02.024

0.058 162.646  
7 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 19

+0.706

2'02.103

0.079 162.541  
8 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 18

+0.747

2'02.144

0.041 162.486  
9 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 17

+0.847

2'02.244

0.100 162.353  
10 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 21

+0.961

2'02.358

0.114 162.202  
11 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 18

+1.069

2'02.466

0.108 162.059  
12 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 18

+1.079

2'02.476

0.010 162.046  
13 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 20

+1.096

2'02.493

0.017 162.023  
14 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 18

+1.154

2'02.551

0.058 161.947  
15 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 18

+1.156

2'02.553

0.002 161.944  
16 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 19

+1.405

2'02.802

0.249 161.616  
17 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 20

+1.442

2'02.839

0.037 161.567  
18 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 17

+1.478

2'02.875

0.036 161.520  
19 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 19

+1.617

2'03.014

0.139 161.337  
20 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 17

+2.047

2'03.444

0.430 160.775  
21 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 20

+2.124

2'03.521

0.077 160.675  
22 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 20

+2.587

2'03.984

0.463 160.075  
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