Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso topped the opening MotoGP free practice session at Austin this evening which was held in wet conditions and stopped after 20 minutes when a dog found its way on to the circuit.
The rain fell before the first Moto3 session of the day and carried on into MotoGP but all riders decided to get in some track time and Dovizioso’s last lap was the quickest, setting a 2’19.402 to be 0.462 faster than reigning champion Marc Marquez.
Scott Redding gave the Brits something to cheer about as he ended the session in third place and 0.623s behind the Repsol Honda man, and the Estrella Galicia Honda rider was held up by Jorge Lorenzo on his last lap after setting personal best sectors.
Redding came up to the sharp end ten minutes after the re-start, going straight into second and then upping his game to get to 0.030s behind Marquez before the works RC213V jockey then went quicker. Redding then responded with a 2’20.487 but Marquez then went under the 2’20s mark with a 2’19.864 on his 14th lap.
Nine-time world champion Valentino finished in fourth and a tenth behind Redding while Danilo Petrucci was in the top six for most of the session, ending in fifth and only 1.2s off his factory Ducati stablemate.
Petrucci’s last lap just edged out the Monster Yamaha of Bradley Smith, whose final effort of 2’20.951 was good enough for fifth until he was toppled by the Pramac Ducati. Team-mate Pol Espargaro was seventh with Cal Crutchlow eighth.
Lorenzo finished in ninth and two seconds off the pace, which is almost regular after his Assen crash of two years ago that badly broke his collarbone. Yonny Hernandez, who was at the sharp end early on, completed the top ten.
Dani Pedrosa’s replacement Hiro Aoyama finished 12th behind Alvaro Bautista with rookie Jack Miller in 13th place. Eugene Laverty finished in 20th place. Maverick Vinales was the only rider to crash, going down where Crutchlow did in the race last year but was unhurt.
