Factory Honda team-mates Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) have dominated both days of practice and qualifying for the inaugural Grand Prix of the Americas here in Austin, Texas, making the pair firm favourites for tomorrow’s race.

Marquez took pole position this afternoon with a thrilling display of aggressive riding. It was another impressive performance from the 20-year-old rookie who bounced back from a heavy tumble during this morning’s third practice session. Marquez – who has led all but one session here – is now the youngest-ever rider to have achieved pole position in the premier class, bettering Freddie Spencer, who has held the record since he took pole at the 1982 Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama, Spain.

Tomorrow Marquez will bid to become the youngest-ever winner of a premier-class motorcycle Grand Prix. If he does so, he will once again take the record from Honda rider ‘Fast Freddie’ Spencer who won the Belgian Grand Prix in July 1982 at the age of 20 years and 196 days. Marquez will start tomorrow’s race at 20 years and 64 days old.

So far Pedrosa is the only man to have bettered Marquez in a practice session at the Circuit of the Americas, the Spaniard ending this morning’s FP3 session almost four tenths ahead of his compatriot. In qualifying former 125 and 250 World Champion Pedrosa was 0.254 seconds down and is hoping to make overnight improvements to rear-end grip to help him challenge his team-mate in the race.

The new Circuit of the Americas is proving a real hit with riders who are enjoying its many different challenges. The track features 20 corners – more than any other on the MotoGP calendar – and also the championship’s longest straight, at 1.2km/0.746 miles. The mix of corners – from very slow hairpins to high-speed sweepers – is a real test for both riders and engineers, who must work to find a compromise in their machine settings. Yesterday morning the asphalt was very ‘green’ and slippery. Since then it has gained grip and lap times fell almost six seconds between FP1 and qualifying.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) will start tomorrow’s race from the middle of the second row of the grid after qualifying fifth quickest. The German is going well here and ended yesterday’s first two sessions third fastest, making it a Honda one-two-three at the end of the first day.

Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) will start from the third row. His seventh-fastest time came after several set-up changes and a decision to run a hard rear tyre, with which he felt much more comfortable. The Spaniard thinks he might’ve made the second row if he hadn’t got held up by a group of riders during the final minutes of qualifying.

Rookie Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda) had a coming together with Karel Abraham (ART) during qualifying which didn’t help his efforts to go for his best-possible lap time. He ended the session in 22nd place.



Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: pole position, 2m 03.021s

“We are happy of course, because we took our first pole position which is important and always exciting! We knew beforehand that we could fight for pole, but you never know what will happen in the session. Both Dani and Jorge are fast over a single lap, and we managed to overcome them. The important stuff starts tomorrow, because we have a long, physical race with many of changes of direction to deal with. We need to be ready, because tomorrow is what really counts and I will do the best that I can!"

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd – 2m 03.275s

“The session was a little tense, as in fifteen minutes you only have time for four good laps. Fortunately we didn’t have any problems with traffic this time, and I was able to focus and put in a strong lap – faster than all but one in the end! It was a good session, and we took second on the grid which is positive, because Marc put in a fast lap and is close. We need to try to increase the rear grip for tomorrow and work towards having a strong race.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 5th – 2m 04.445s

“Today was a good day for us because we could use the full potential of the hard tyre which is a positive sign. In the fourth practice session we were able to make a longer distance evaluating the reaction of the hard tyre. We improved our consistency and I am pleased with the bike set-up so far because we can be fast from the first lap until the end of the race. Today’s qualifying went well but I am not totally happy with the result. However top five is our target and we can stay with the guys up in the pack.”

Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 7th, 2m 04.942s

“In terms of the lap time we are a long way from pole position but we are quite close to the front row and we have done a good job this afternoon to make the right changes to the settings. We decided to use the hard tyre and the bike felt completely different, I had more confidence with it even after a lot of laps. My first run in qualifying was quite good but then on my second one I got held up by a bunch of riders looking for a tow and missed out on the chance to move up to the second row, which I think I could have done. The important thing is that we are working well and we have a good feeling with the bike for the race tomorrow. The front three are out of reach but I think we can fight for fourth if we can get a good start and push.”

Bryan Staring, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 22nd, 2m 10.098s

“I’m not happy because I still haven’t worked out the fastest way around this incredible track. I don’t have the right line and speed through the corners and we’re struggling. At the end we also got taken out by Karel Abraham so that didn’t help but tomorrow we’ll try to get a good start and finish with a respectable result.”

Qualifying position

1 Marc Marquez 2'03.021 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 2'03.275 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 2'04.100 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Cal Crutchlow 2'04.267 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Stefan Bradl 2'04.445 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
6 Andrea Dovizioso 2'04.873 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Alvaro Bautista 2'04.942 SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
8 Valentino Rossi 2'05.380 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
9 Aleix Espargaro 2'05.389 ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
10 Nicky Hayden 2'05.568 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Bradley Smith 2'06.740 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Ben Spies 2'07.044 USA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
13 Andrea Iannone 2'06.872 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
14 Randy De Puniet 2'07.129 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
15 Hector Barbera 2'07.717 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
16 Yonny Hernandez 2'07.738 COL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
17 Michael Laverty 2'08.259 WAL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
18 Colin Edwards 2'08.475 USA FTR NGM Forward Racing
19 Claudio Corti 2'08.792 ITA FTR NGM Forward Racing
20 Danilo Petrucci 2'08.825 ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
21 Hiroshi Aoyama 2'09.062 JPN FTR Avintia Blusens
22 Bryan Staring 2'10.098 AUS HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
23 Lukas Pesek 2'10.507 CZE IODA Came IodaRacing Project
24 Blake Young 2'10.606 USA APRILIA Attack Performance

Championship standings

1 Jorge Lorenzo 25 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
2 Valentino Rossi 20 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Marc Marquez 16 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Dani Pedrosa 13 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
5 Cal Crutchlow 11 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Alvaro Bautista 10 pts SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
7 Andrea Dovizioso 9 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Nicky Hayden 8 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Andrea Iannone 7 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
10 Ben Spies 6 pts USA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
11 Aleix Espargaro 5 pts ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
12 Randy De Puniet 4 pts FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
13 Hector Barbera 3 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
14 Yonny Hernandez 2 pts COL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
15 Hiroshi Aoyama 1 pts JPN FTR Avintia Blusens
16 Stefan Bradl 0 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
17 Michael Laverty 0 pts WAL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
18 Lukas Pesek 0 pts CZE IODA Came IodaRacing Project
19 Karel Abraham 0 pts CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
20 Danilo Petrucci 0 pts ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
21 Colin Edwards 0 pts USA FTR NGM Forward Racing
22 Claudio Corti 0 pts ITA FTR NGM Forward Racing
23 Bryan Staring 0 pts AUS HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
24 Bradley Smith 0 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3

.