Red Bull KTM Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira has had quite a few days. Just four days on from riding the factory KTM RC16 of Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco at the Official Test in Brno, the Portuguese rookie then had his best MotoGP™ Free Practice Friday of the season by closing the day seventh quickest and, more importantly, top KTM at the Austrian factory’s home round.

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here

Smith began the day as Tuuli’s closest challenger in the Championship after the Sachsenring – and the top two ended FP1 at the top of the standings. However, no one could live with Tuuli’s FP2 pace as the Finn set a 1:35.225 on his third flying lap, his advantage remaining above half a second for most of the 30-minute session. Casadei finished fourth in FP1 but the Italian was able to find a couple of tenths in the evening sun to jump to second overall, with Smith improving by just under a tenth to slip down a spot to third.

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here

IATC alumni have already made their way into the MotoGP™ World Championship, with representation in both Moto2™ and Moto3™. 2014 and 2015 IATC Champions Kaito Toba and Ayumu Sasaki compete in the lightweight class, with Toba becoming the first IATC Champion to win a Grand Prix earlier this season in Qatar. Can Öncü, another former IATC rider, also broke the record and became the youngest ever Grand Prix winner in Valencia last year. 2016 Champion Somkiat Chantra, meanwhile, made the leap straight into Moto2™ and has already been in the top ten. 2017 and 2018 Champions Deniz Öncü and Bill Van Eerde remain on the Road to MotoGP™ in the FIM Moto3™ Junior World Championship.

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here

Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Fabio Quartararo snuck inside the top five on the opening day of the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, which is no mean feat for a Yamaha rider. The 2018 Austrian Grand Prix was a weekend to forget for the Japanese factory after they failed to finish any session inside the top five. However, twelve months on, Yamaha have two riders inside the top five thanks to the efforts of Quartararo and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales.

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here

“Really good because in the afternoon we tried a different setup and it worked better for the braking, which is so important for this track,” began Dovizioso. “The pace is good, I’m happy. I’m very close to Marc so we are working in a good way. Still, I hope we can have a margin in the middle of the corners but, in this moment, I feel good, the pace with a very used tyre is good. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake at Turn 3 and I couldn’t improve the lap time, but the speed is there.”

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here

The sun was shining as temperatures soared in Speilberg, but that meant improving FP1 times came a little difficult. Championship leader Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) was the early pacesetter in FP2 after the Spaniard had completed the opening Free Practice session down in ninth place, but he wouldn’t stay at the summit for long. Binder, fourth quickest in FP1, soon found himself at the top of the timesheets in FP2, but Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) were the only riders to go fastest than their FP1 times halfway through the session. Martin’s time saw him go inside the top 14 having finished FP1 in P16 and soon enough, the reigning Moto3™ World Champion was second in FP2 behind teammate Binder.

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here

Others were going quicker though and one of the big improvers was Takaaki Nakagami, the LCR Honda Idemitsu rider finished FP1 in a solid ninth but the Japanese star was finding time. First Nakagami went to P5 overall but on the next lap, the Honda man shot to P3 on the combined times, second in FP2. Viñales, third fastest in FP1, was also ramping his pace up and sure enough, the Yamaha man went second quickest – just 0.066 behind Marquez’ early session time. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was also building on his 10th place in FP1 to shoot up to seventh on the combined standings, with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) then popping up into ninth overall on his last flying lap after finishing outside the top 10 in FP1.

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here

Championship rivals Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) and Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) both failed to improve on their laps from FP1, yet both provisionally hold Q2 places ahead of tomorrow’s possible inclement weather. Dalla Porta is eleventh, one place ahead of teammate Marcos Ramirez. Canet, meanwhile, could benefit massively from Foggia’s lap cancellation as the Spaniard was promoted into the final Q2 place in 14th.

Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here