Franco Morbidelli topped MotoGP World Championship practice Friday morning at rainy Circuit of The Americas (COTA), in Austin, Texas. Riding his Michelin-shod Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team desmosedici GP24, the Italian turned a lap of 2:12.531 around the 3.43-mile (5.51 km) track and led the 22-rider field.
Surprisingly, Jack Miller was second-best with a 2:12.614 on his Prima Pramac Yamaha M1.
Marc Marquez was third with a lap of 2:12.780 on his Lenovo Ducati Desmosedici GP25.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Stars fall in Texas: Morbidelli P1, Marc Marquez highsides in wet FP1. In far from ideal conditions, it was a far from ideal foray onto the 5.5km COTA track for the Championship leader and he wasn’t alone.
The rain poured down in Austin, Texas as the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas’ first day of track action got underway. The Circuit of the Americas usually has blissful sunshine but a wet Friday caught out Championship leader Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), who suffered his first crash of the season. At the head of the field, Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) continued his Argentina podium form to lead the opening session at COTA.
Conditions improved towards the end of the 45-minute session but it was the really wet conditions that caught Marquez out at Turn 2 after just six laps of the weekend. Managing to get up and return the bike to the pits – via the use of a flatbed truck. He got back out with 15 minutes to go before taking P4. Strong right the way through the session, Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was on top ahead of fellow Independent rider Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP). Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) was strong again in P4 ahead of last year’s COTA revelation Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).
Sporadically topping the timesheets through the session, double MotoGP Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was sixth ahead of Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP). In one of his best sessions in orange, 2024’s COTA master Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was ninth ahead of super-sub Augusto Fernandez (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), deputising for the injured Miguel Oliveira.
In what was a session to forget, Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) suffered numerous technical gremlins throughout the session with both bikes. Three technical issues and a crash across both bikes, when it rains, it pours – no weather pun intended – and the discontent was clear for everyone in the Aprilia box; at the flag, ‘Bez’ was 20th. The problems didn’t stop there, with a nightmare Practice Start session ending a tricky session. The best Aprilia was Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) for the team’s home GP in 17th; teammate Ai Ogura struggled in his first wet session in the class in P22.
FP1 results bagged, it’s now time to look ahead to the afternoon: live coverage resumes from 13:10 Local Time (UTC – 6).