Submitted by Mike Lewis on
Marc Marquez did nothing to change the impression that he is the man to beat at COTA with a half-second advantage on the second-fastest rider. That rider, Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, narrowed the gap with Marquez as temperatures climbed and lap times dropped. A surprising third fastest by Stephan Bradl indicates there's something about the track that agrees with Honda. But what also seems to work is additional track time. All of the top riders today spent time at a COTA test earlier in the year. Even so, Marquez's best time today was two seconds slower than his fast lap from testing here in March at the new, 5.5 km (3.4 mi.) circuit near Austin, Texas.
Results:
Pos. | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff. / Prev. |
1 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 2'05.031 | |
2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 2'05.585 | 0.554 / 0.554 |
3 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 2'06.173 | 1.142 / 0.588 |
4 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | 2'06.637 | 1.606 / 0.464 |
5 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 2'06.868 | 1.837 / 0.231 |
6 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | 2'06.899 | 1.868 / 0.031 |
7 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 2'07.236 | 2.205 / 0.337 |
8 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | 2'07.256 | 2.225 / 0.020 |
9 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | 2'07.699 | 2.668 / 0.443 |
10 | 11 | Ben SPIES | Ducati | 2'08.034 | 3.003 / 0.335 |
11 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | 2'08.299 | 3.268 / 0.265 |
12 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | ART | 2'09.374 | 4.343 / 1.075 |
13 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | 2'09.424 | 4.393 / 0.050 |
14 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | ART | 2'09.739 | 4.708 / 0.315 |
15 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | 2'09.860 | 4.829 / 0.121 |
16 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | ART | 2'10.411 | 5.380 / 0.551 |
17 | 71 | Claudio CORTI | FTR Kawasaki | 2'10.720 | 5.689 / 0.309 |
18 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | FTR | 2'11.183 | 6.152 / 0.463 |
19 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ioda-Suter | 2'11.614 | 6.583 / 0.431 |
20 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | PBM | 2'11.828 | 6.797 / 0.214 |
21 | 52 | Lukas PESEK | Ioda-Suter | 2'12.230 | 7.199 / 0.402 |
22 | 67 | Bryan STARING | FTR Honda | 2'12.462 | 7.431 / 0.232 |
23 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | FTR Kawasaki | 2'12.504 | 7.473 / 0.042 |
24 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | FTR | 2'12.573 | 7.542 / 0.069 |
25 | 79 | Blake YOUNG | APR | 2'13.158 | 8.127 / 0.585 |
44 | Mike BARNES | BCL | 2'16.169 | 11.138 / 3.011 |
Round Number:
2
2013
Comments
There we go...
Temperature sure made a difference.
Hope for better weather.... the times will drop again tomarrow
Wonder if a 1,59 is possiable? I am guessing so... Marquez is something else!
soo excited for the weekend... Gonna have to go with MM for this one.... I bet Dani is not a happy camper right now...
Marquez is pretty awesome.
Marquez is pretty awesome. Time will tell if he's comparable to Stoner. Looks to be so far though. The fact that Bradl is 3rd right now gives you some idea of the advantage the Honda has at this track. One thing is for sure though, Honda need to finally throw in the towel on Pedrosa, the guy just doesn't have the killer instinct you need to be world champion. Getting beat by your rookie teammate on his maiden premier class race is just the latest example. Give him the sack and put Crutchlow on the other Honda, it's their best bet, and Cal is certainly deserving.
Marquez wins!
Marquez already has it won. NO ONE is gonna find 2 seconds this weekend.
Congrats Marc!
As always, racing is a far
As always, racing is a far different matter to testing and practice... Marquez is far from a dead certainty. don't underestimate the hungriness any of the aliens at this point, everyone got something to prove here.
Just got back from the
Just got back from the circuit. WOW! It is enormous! It's so dynamic, undulating, technical and beautiful.
I recommend all who can attend next year (who couldn't this year) to do so.
Those tight hairpins exploits Honda's advantage. Safe pick would be Marquez for sure, but there's still a full day and then of course the race where anything can happen (Rossi proved in Qatar).
I'm still in awe of the circuit.....
Marquez and Pedrosa
At Qatar I am sure Dani was still suffering from that neck muscle problem he had in testing at Jerez. Also, as FernUt46 points out, the track temp at Austin in these two practice sessions was lower than in the tests there a few weeks ago. By the way, did the Yamaha teams get their equipment dried out? Seems strange that fire control sprinklers could be on for so long without security staff taking a look...
So glad
im so glad MM aint no stoner in any way!!!