After horrendous weather throughout the morning in Austin, thankfully it was beautiful blue skies above the Circuit of the Americas for qualifying. Normal service was resumed at the beginning of Q2 as Marquez slammed in a 2:03.787 straight out the gate, chasing down teammate Jorge Lorenzo – who topped the timesheets in Q1 – to put in the best time of the weekend. Lorenzo then encountered what looked like a chain issue with his Honda machine heading onto his second flying lap behind the number 93 – a Marquez-style park it and run down pitlane followed for the five-time World Champion. Meanwhile, Marquez’ scorcher of a time was seemingly well out of site as the riders completed their first flying laps, Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) a full two seconds back before his teammate Rossi jumped up to second, 0.733 the gap. No one could get closer than that to Marquez after the first runs though, with Rossi emerging as best of the rest ahead of Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), Viñales, Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Crutchlow. The riders emerged out of the box for their second time attacks, with Marquez unable to better his sensational first lap at the first attempt on fresh rubber. But it wasn’t the same story for his rivals behind, with Rossi improving to move within three tenths of P1, with Rins and Miller exchanging laps good enough for the final front row slot just behind. However, neither would occupy P3 for long as Crutchlow crossed the line to displace the duo, the British rider just 0.087 off Rossi. Marquez still couldn’t improve his time but in the end, it wouldn’t matter. Almost everyone backed out or couldn’t better their final laps and so the grid was set, with your front row in Texas consisting of two Hondas sandwiching a Yamaha – Marquez heading Rossi and Crutchlow. This is Rossi’s first front row since Malaysia 2018, while Crutchlow starts on the front row for the first time since Assen last year. A tasty row one in Texas. Miller took top Ducati honours in P4 and just behind the Australian was a certain Pol Espargaro on board his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. The Spaniard having a stellar Q2 session to secure KTM’s best MotoGP™ qualifying position in fifth, just 0.685 from pole, with Viñales improving on his last lap to grab a second row start in P6. The Spaniard’s lap knocked Rins down a place to seventh, this the Suzuki rider’s best qualifying of the year to make it five manufacturers in the top seven, with Q1 graduate Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) eighth in Americas GP qualifying. It’s Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) joining the Spaniard and Italian on row three in ninth, with the Frenchman getting the better of teammate Franco Morbidelli – P10 for the latter. After progressing through Q1, Lorenzo will lineup in P11 for Sunday’s race, with rookie Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) twelfth in his first Q2 session – the Italian crashing unhurt at Turn 1.

#35 Cal Crutchlow (3rd – 2’04.147)

“Maybe it’s old age, with Valentino (Rossi) in second and me in third, maybe we’re coming back round again with age! I feel good, although I was not overly pleased with my lap, I lost the front three times in one lap. We changed the setting from yesterday, but because we didn’t have the morning session (FP3) we needed to use the qualifying as a little bit of a test and I lost the front in all the hairpin corners. I was angry with the lap because of myself as I pushed a lot in the braking zone. I’m happy enough though, nobody is anywhere near Marc (Marquez), you saw him in the damp session and he was two seconds clear. But we did a good job and the team is working very well. I’m happy with the team, happy with the bike, everything is going well and I look forward to tomorrow.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results Q1 & Q2 combined:

Pos	Rider	Team	Fastest lap
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Repsol Honda Team	2’03.787
2	Valentino ROSSI	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	2’04.060
3	Cal CRUTCHLOW	LCR Honda CASTROL	2’04.147
4	Jack MILLER	Pramac Racing	2’04.416
5	Pol ESPARGARO	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	2’04.472
6	Maverick VIÑALES	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	2’04.489
7	Alex RINS	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	2’04.534
8	Danilo PETRUCCI	Mission Winnow Ducati	2’04.696
9	Fabio QUARTARARO	Petronas Yamaha SRT	2’04.941
10	Franco MORBIDELLI	Petronas Yamaha SRT	2’05.278
11	Jorge LORENZO	Repsol Honda Team	2’05.383
12	Francesco BAGNAIA	Pramac Racing	2’05.887
13	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Mission Winnow Ducati	2.05,907
14	Joan MIR	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	2.06,147
15	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	2.06,324
16	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	2.06,464
17	Andrea IANNONE	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	2.06,527
18	Miguel OLIVEIRA	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	2.06,543
19	Johann ZARCO	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	2.06,824
20	Karel ABRAHAM	Reale Avintia Racing	2.07,129
21	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	2’07.308
22	Tito RABAT	Reale Avintia Racing	2’07.417