16:17
Deep debrief needed at KTM for Binder and Bastianini. They were nowhere near getting into Q2, and Acosta and Vinales have shown so far this weekend that there is some pace in that RC16 at COTA.
Pecco Bagnaia, Ducati Corse, 2025 Americas MotoGP
© Gold and Goose
2025 Americas MotoGP: Sprint at it happened
Text commentary of the sprint for the 2025 MotoGP Americas Grand Prix as it happened
Marc Marquez will be gunning to keep his 100% sprint record in 2025 alive on Saturday at the MotoGP Americas Grand Prix after qualifying on pole.
The wet and mixed weather on Friday have been replaced by dry conditions on Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas, with championship leader Marc Marquez coming into day two of the third round having set the pace in practice.
Suffering his first crash as a factory Ducati rider this season in the wet FP1, Marquez's confidence was not dented in the slightest as he went over seven tenths faster than the field in Practice.
He remains the rider to beat at COTA, a venue at which he has won seven grands prix.
VR46's Fabio Di Giannantonio put in some fast late laps in Practice to move into Q2, and went on to qualify on the front row for the first time since Qatar 2023, while the Gresini Ducati of Alex Marquez completed the front row.
Pecco Bagnaia was 1.5s off team-mate Marc Marquez at the end of Practice, and struggled in qualifying as he could only manage sixth.
Already 31 points off the championship lead, he will need to make a big step on Saturday to stop that gap growing significantly in the sprint.
The sprint begins at 8pm GMT.
29 Mar 2025
16:20
Q2 group
These are the 12 riders battling it out for pole in Q2:
- M.Marquez
- Di Giannantonio
- Morbidelli
- A.Marquez
- Aldeguer
- Miller
- Acosta
- Vinales
- Mir
- Bagnaia
- Marini
- Quartararo
16:16
After that red flag, Q2 will start at 4:25pm GMT.
16:15
Big effort from Marini. That's his first Q2 visit as a Honda rider and he goes into the pole shootout session having set the best lap of the weekend so far.
16:15
Bad day for Aprilia. None of its bikes are through to Q2. What a difference a year makes!
16:13
Luca Marini and Fabio Quartararo go through to Q2.
Bezzecchi misses out by just 0.082s. He will start ahead of Rins, Zarco, Binder, Bastianini, Ogura, R.Fernandez, A.Fernandez, Chantra, Savadori.
16:12
Zarco completes the lap but it's only fifth! He's out of Q1. That's a shock.
16:11
Chequered flag - Q1
The chequered flag is out. Marini and Quartararo still the top two.
16:10
Good lap from Bez, but it keeps him third.
16:09
Quartararo has a big moment into Turn 1 just as he set his lap.
16:08
Quartararo moves up to second, 0.112s off the pace. Bezzecchi is third from Rins, Binder, Zarco, R.Fernandez, Bastianini, A.Fernandez, Chantra, Savadori, Ogura.
16:07
Luca Marini sets the pace at a 2m02.001s. Fastest lap of the weekend.
16:03
Green light
Q1 has resumed.
16:01
Long lap at COTA, so there won't be much time for people to get a time in when the session resumes.
15:59
That's good news for Raul Fernandez, and more so for the poor photographer whose scooter he had to steal to get back to pitlane for his second bike!
15:58
Red flag has been shown due to the damage to the barriers caused by Raul Fernandez's bike.
Session stopped with 8m36s on the clock.
15:57
Red flag
Session has been stopped.
15:56
The live timing has broken down, so we're not yet able to bring you any sort of order.
15:55
Fernandez stepped off the kerb on the exit of Turn 9 and that unsettled his Aprilia, sending him down the road.
15:54
Crash - Raul Fernandez
Raul Fernandez has crashed his Trackhouse Aprilia at Turn 10 and his bike has lifted some of the fencing.
15:50
Q1 - green light
The first 15-minute qualifying segment is go!
15:49
This should be a pretty fun session. Quite a few names in Q1 more than capable of escaping the session.
Johann Zarco on the Honda has to be one of the big favourites, after a crash in Practice on Friday while on a top 10 lap left him trapped in the Q1 zone.
15:46
Final Practice Results
15:44
Just five minutes till Q1.
15:43
Q1 group
The riders going through Q1 are:
- Quartararo
- Binder
- Bezzecchi
- Ogura
- Marini
- R.Fernandez
- Rins
- Bastianini
- A.Fernandez
- Zarco
- Chantra
- Savadori
