King of COTA, Marc Marquez tops Austin MotoGP FP1 as Miller comes second

Six Time Circuit Of The Americas winner, Marc Marquez topped the first practice session of the Austin MotoGP.

The Repsol Honda rider dominated the first practice session in wet conditions and once again it looks like he’s the man to beat. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo finished the session in 15th place.

The wet conditions at COTA were very similar to Misano first practice sessin two weeks ago, which again Marc Marquez dominated.

Marc Marquez started the session two seconds clear of his teammate Pol Espargaro but it was not long before Pramac rider Johann Zarco reduced the margin to just 1.3 seconds.

As the practice session progressed the track started to dry out with a dry line appearing but it wasa still too risky to bring the slick tyres out.

In the last 15 minutes lap times continued to progress as the riders had much more grip on the track. Marquez, improved his lap time with an eighth of a second after changing from soft wets to mediums.

Factory Ducati rider Jack Miller tried to get within two tenths of Marc Marquez but in the end was unable to get the better of him as the time attack became more intense, however Miller ended up ranking second.

Johann Zarco was third in the time sheets after undergoing an arm pump surgery as Miguel Oliveira ranked fourth making a huge comeback after tough Silverstone, Aragon, Austria and Misano rounds.

Marc Marquez teammate Pol Espargaro ranked fifth in the timesheets as his brother Alex Marquez finished an encouraging sixth as the session came to a close.

The only rider to have crashed in the session was Takaaki Nakagami who suffered a late fall at Turn 15.

AUSTIN MOTOGP, COTA – FREE PRACTICE (1) RESULTS