Fabio Quartararo finished the free practice sessions in Austin as fastest – World Championship leader Aleix Espargaro misses out on Q2 entry – KTM still have a big gap
MotoGP World Champion Fabio Quartararo secured the fastest time in the third free practice session for the 2022 USA Grand Prix. The Yamaha rider lapped the Circuit of The Americas in 2’02.361. Some big names missed out on direct Q2 entry.
Among them were World Championship leader Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Alex Rins (Suzuki) and Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati). KTM did not make a big leap forward after the difficult Friday. All four riders missed the top 10 by a wide margin (see result).
The tyres were all soft at the front. The used soft tyre from Friday was also used at the rear. This could be a race option for some. Only the fourth practice session at somewhat warmer temperatures will be more informative in this respect.
Honda worked with the set-up to find a better feeling for the front tyre. Alex Marquez (LCR) had a harmless slip at turn 12 at the start, but the Spaniard was able to continue straight away.
Detailed set-up work was on the agenda for most teams. KTM had to make major changes, because yesterday all four riders complained about problems on the brakes and at the corner entry.
Before the time hunt began, it became apparent that KTM was still lagging behind. Brad Binder was one second off the top times and Miguel Oliveira around two seconds. Both were able to improve steadily, but the top was not within reach.
Already 15 minutes before the end of the practice session, the first riders went hunting for times. Martin crashed in his warm-up lap in turn 16. Moments before, the Spaniard had changed to the hard front tyre. Joan Mir (Suzuki) also crashed in turn 11 (Read all the action in the ticker!).
In the final minutes, numerous riders tried to hang onto Quartararo’s rear wheel and there was dawdling on the track again. Darryn Binder (RNF-Yamaha) briefly caused yellow flags with a crash in turn 1, which caused lap times to be cancelled.
Moments later there were yellow flags again because Johann Zarco (Pramac-Ducati) crashed in turn 2. His French compatriot Quartararo did better. With 2:02.361 minutes, the World Champion secured the best time.
In his final attempt, Quartararo was 0.059 seconds faster than Enea Bastianini (Gresini-Ducati). Ducati were competitive overall as Jack Miller followed in third, Zarco in fifth despite crashing and Francesco Bagnaia in sixth.
Austin record winner Marc Marquez was also among the frontrunners in fourth. His teammate Pol Espargaro classified seventh and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR) secured a place in Q2 in ninth.
Mir was not pushed out of the top 10 after his crash and finished eighth. His team-mate was unlucky. When Rins was on his last flying lap and had good intermediate times, Brad Binder crashed directly in front of him in turn 12.
So Rins had to close the throttle and his lap was ruined. Rins finished twelfth. Brad Binder was the best KTM rider in 17th place. He was 1.177 seconds behind. Oliveira managed an improvement on Friday, but the gap was still large at one and a half seconds.
The fourth practice session starts at 20:30 CEST. Qualifying will then take place from 21:10 CEST.
Directly qualified for Q2 are:
Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)
Enea Bastianini (Gresini-Ducati)
Jack Miller (Ducati)
Marc Marquez (Honda)
Johann Zarco (Pramac-Ducati)
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)
Pol Espargaro (Honda)
Joan Mir (Suzuki)
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR-Honda)
Luca Marini (VR46-Ducati)
