INDIANAPOLIS, IN, AUG. 16 – To the surprise of no one, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez led the opening practice session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the World Championship points leader the only rider to crack the 1:41 barrier on an overcast morning at the speedway.
Marquez led most of the session – though Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo also had a stint at the top spot – and the young Spaniard was there at the end in what was his first MotoGP session at Indy with his 1:40.781. Unlike at Laguna Seca, however, Marquez has raced here before, the Repsol Honda rider winning the last two Moto2 GPs at Indy – including last year’s by over five seconds. Marquez best lap was his 17th of the 19 laps he completed, though his best was still 1.7 seconds off the lap record of 1:39.008
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow ended the session second, the Brit barely missing out on the 1:40s with his 1:41.081 lap on his final go-around. That lap knocked Lorenzo down to third.
Fourth fastest was Stefan Bradl, the runner-up at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca last month. Bradl’s best was .643 of a second off Marquez’s best. Then came Valentino Rossi, the factory Yamaha rider leading Go&Fun’s Alvaro Bautista and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, the defending race champion at Indy ending up seventh in the first session.
The two factory Ducatis were next with Andrea Dovizioso leading Nicky Hayden with Hayden just a tick over a second slower than Marquez. Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith and Pramac Ducati’s Ben Spies, in his return to racing from his shoulder injury, rounded out the top 11.
The only casualty in the session was to Karel Abraham, the Czech rider suffering a big highside in turn 10 and appearing to reinjure his shoulder.
Practice 1 Results
2013 Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix
1. Marc Marquez (Honda) 1:40.781
2. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1:41.081
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:41.261
4. Stefan Bradl (Honda) 1:41.424
5. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:41.547
6. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) 1:41.571
7. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:41.590
8. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1:41.783
9. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1:41.830
10. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 1:42.405
11. Ben Spies (Ducati) 1:42.507
