Marc Marquez Finds Blazing Speed in Indy

Larry Lawrence | August 8, 2014

In MotoGPs FP2 Marc Marquez was the only rider able to dip into the 1:32s clicking off a 1:32.882 aboard his Repsol Honda to end day one on top of the charts. Gold Goose photo

Photography by Gold & Goose

INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 8, 2014) – Earlier in the day Marc Marquez said that the modifications to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course would favor the Yamahas. He might be changing his tune a bit after Friday’s second practice session. In MotoGP’s FP2 Marquez was the only rider able to dip into the 1:32s, clicking off a 1:32.882 aboard his Repsol Honda to end day one on top of the charts.

Marquez is the defending race winner. He won the Moto2 race in Indianapolis the previous two seasons, so Marquez is looking to win for the fourth consecutive year at IMS.

Finishing the session behind Marquez was Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone (1:33.104) and Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo (1:33.424) making it three different manufacturers in the top three spots.

The final MotoGP session of the day was fortunate to largely avoid the light rain that’s been falling intermittently for much of the cool and cloudy day.

It proved to be a relatively close session with the top 11 riders all within a second of Marquez’ top time.

The big mover in the session was Dani Pedrosa, who was 12^th in the morning session and jumped all the way up to fifth fastest. Valentino Rossi, who led the morning session, fell to ninth in a topsy-turvy day of practice.

Colin Edwards, the only American in the race, finished the day in 16^th.

MotoGP riders will have two more practice session Saturday before qualifying begins at 2:10 pm.

Free Practice 2 MotoGP Results from Indianapolis – Aug. 8, 2014
1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1’32.882
2 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 1’33.104
3 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1’33.424
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1’33.432
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1’33.493
6 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1’33.513
7 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 1’33.531
8 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1’33.587
9 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1’33.598
10 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1’33.621
11 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1’33.690
12 45 Scott REDDING GBR GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 1’33.971
13 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Ducati Team Ducati 1’33.996
14 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 1’34.054
15 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 1’34.912
16 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1’34.994
17 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Drive M7 Aspar Honda 1’35.106
18 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Avintia 1’35.231
19 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 1’35.472
20 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo IodaRacing Team ART 1’35.721
21 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Avintia 1’35.749
22 23 Broc PARKES AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 319.0 1’35.941
23 2 Leon CAMIER GBR Drive M7 Aspar Honda 1’36.394