Jorge Martin sends warning to his rivals with stunning lap record in second practice
Jorge Martin topped the second MotoGP practice on Friday at the Americas MotoGP, thanks to a blinding new lap record.
Following a strong Free Practice 1, MotoGP rookie Pedro Acosta made another lightning start to practice 2 as he settled into P2 behind championship leader Jorge Martin.
Enea Bastianini, winner at COTA on his last visit to the American circuit in 2022, then made it a Ducati 1-2 as he went second.
- Lin Jarvis to leave role as Yamaha MotoGP team principal at the of 2024
- Yamaha ‘have plans to return to winning ways’ after securing Fabio Quartararo
Fastest in FP1, Maverick Vinales continued his impressive turn of pace as he soon went second. Vinales was the only rider able to get within a tenth of Martin’s time of 2:03.036s.
‘King of COTA’, Marc Marquez made another slow start to second practice before moving up to 3rd place with just over half the session remaining.
Vinales then improved after fitting a new soft rear tyre, becoming the first rider to set a sub 2m 3s lap time this weekend.
However, Martin fought straight back as he went -0.095s clear of the factory Aprilia rider.
After moving into the top ten, Fabio Di Giannantonio made a mess of his next flying lap as he ran off circuit at turn 12.
As the time attacks got underway with just under 18 minutes to go, Vinales was one of the first riders to threaten the fastest time set by Martin.
Close through the first three sectors, Vinales pulled out over four tenths on Martin in the final sector to go quickest.
Marc Marquez and Franco Morbidelli joined Vinales in finding a lot of time on their previous best, however, a new lap record was set when Martin obliterated the all-time lap record by half a second.
Martin set a 2:01.397 which was six tenths clear of Aleix Espargaro who moved up the order, as did Di Giannantonio.
To start the final time attack run, world champion Bagnaia had a long queue of riders behind him as they looked to take advantage of the Italian needing a big lap.
Bagnaia did exactly what he needed to as he moved into the top ten, while Vinales narrowly missed out on top spot
