Andrea Dovizioso struck in the final minute to finish fastest in first practice at the Circuit of the Americas. The opening session was already heavily delayed before heavy rain and an unwanted intruder onto the race track provided further disruptions on Friday morning in Austin.
Delays getting the marshals into position kept the Moto3 riders waiting first thing this morning, with MotoGP’s opening session eventually starting 50 minutes late. Yonny Hernandez got straight down to business, clocking a 2:22.560 in the pouring rain but proceedings would be halted again twelve minutes in thanks to a stray dog making its way onto the circuit.
After another lengthy delay, Hernandez resumed his domination with a 2:21.913 but shortly after the halfway mark, Marc Marquez leapt to the top of the leaderboard despite what looked like a decidedly nervous Honda RC213V. The reigning champion continued to lower his benchmark time but a huge moment at turn five caused him to scrap his final lap.
This opened the door for Dovizioso to lead the session with a 2:19.402, four tenths quicker than the Repsol Honda, with Scott Redding taking his Estrella Galicia Marc VDS to third after challenging at the top of the leaderboard throughout. Championship leader Valentino Rossi was fourth while Danilo Petrucci and Bradley Smith leapt into the top six with last-gasp efforts.
Pol Espargaro was relegated to seventh on the second Tech 3 Yamaha with Cal Crutchlow and Jorge Lorenzo knocking early pacesetter Yonny Hernandez down to tenth. After narrowly avoiding the dog earlier in the session, Maverick Vinales capped off a fraught first session with a crash at turn two.
2015 Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas: FP1 Classification
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