After finishing behind his fellow Yamaha rider in FP1, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) ousted Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) in FP2 to lead the way on Friday at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan. 2019 World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) completed the top three on the opening day of action.
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Marquez ended the opening day in Japan 0.181 clear of Binder, with the second of the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders, Jorge Martin, completing the top three, a quarter of a second adrift. SKY Racing Team VR46’s Luca Marini continued his Buriram form by sitting fourth on the timesheets, 0.008 of a second ahead of Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2).
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Behind Migno, who was just three tenths adrift of Hiroki Ono’s fastest ever Twin-Ring lap from 2016, was Ramirez, McPhee and then Jakub Kornfeil, who had a much better day than his Redox PruestelGP teammate Filip Salac. The young Czech rider viciously high-sided at Turn 3 early in the session and it came just moments after being handed a pitlane start for Sunday’s race due to irresponsible riding in FP1. His fitness will be assessed tomorrow morning ahead of FP3.
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It was a Yamaha 1-2-3 on Friday afternoon at Motegi as the opening practice session for this 16th round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship got underway in fine conditions.
Maverick Vinales the outright pace-setter over the SRT Petronas pairing of Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli. Valentino Rossi was 12th but less than half-a-second off third ranked Morbidelli.
Marc Marquez already looks to have strong race pace without requiring any fresh rubber to set a competitive time in fourth place ahead of Suzuki team-mates Alex Rins and Joan Mir.
Jack Miller was the leading Ducati in FP1 just ahead of Andrea Dovizioso while Pol Espargaro clinced ninth place for KTM.
Cal Crutchlow was the second quickest Honda in tenth place just ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.
Vinales’ 1m45.572s was only just outside Jorge Lorenzo’s race lap record on the Yamaha set in 2014. Lorenzo also has the fastest ever recorded lap of the 4.8 km circuit with his stunning 1m43.790 during practice in 2015. This afternoon Lorenzo set a best of 1m47.438s which was good enough to rank him 19th on the time-sheets.
Remy Gardner had been fifth in the preceding Moto2 practice session which was headed by Brad Binder on the KTM.
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1m45.572 |
| 2 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | +0.258 |
| 3 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | +0.411 |
| 4 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | +0.463 |
| 5 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | +0.493 |
| 6 | Joan MIR | Suzuki | +0.553 |
| 7 | Jack MILLER | Ducati | +0.625 |
| 8 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | +0.634 |
| 9 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | +0.643 |
| 10 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | +0.717 |
| 11 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia | +0.842 |
| 12 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | +0.848 |
| 13 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | +0.963 |
| 14 | Andrea IANNONE | Aprilia | +1.173 |
| 15 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | +1.191 |
| 16 | Mika KALLIO | KTM | +1.326 |
| 17 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | +1.370 |
| 18 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | +1.755 |
| 19 | Jorge LORENZO | Honda | +1.866 |
| 20 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati | +1.924 |
| 21 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Suzuki | +2.181 |
| 22 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | +2.525 |
| 23 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | KTM | +2.786 |
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | SPA | 325 |
| 2 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | ITA | 215 |
| 3 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | SPA | 167 |
| 4 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | SPA | 163 |
| 5 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | ITA | 162 |
| 6 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 145 |
| 7 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | FRA | 143 |
| 8 | Jack MILLER | Ducati | AUS | 119 |
| 9 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | GBR | 102 |
| 10 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | ITA | 90 |
| 11 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | SPA | 80 |
| 12 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | JPN | 74 |
| 13 | Joan MIR | Suzuki | SPA | 58 |
| 14 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia | SPA | 46 |
| 15 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati | ITA | 34 |
| 16 | Andrea IANNONE | Aprilia | ITA | 33 |
| 17 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | POR | 29 |
| 18 | Johann ZARCO | KTM | FRA | 27 |
| 19 | Jorge LORENZO | Honda | SPA | 23 |
| 20 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | SPA | 18 |
| 21 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | GER | 16 |
| 22 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | ITA | 9 |
| 23 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Suzuki | FRA | 7 |
| 24 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | KTM | MAL | 7 |
| 25 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | CZE | 5 |
Source: MCNews.com.au
That lap at the death placed the factory man 0.258 clear of the rest, with Morbidelli sitting 0.411 off Viñales. Marquez finished the session in P4, with Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins 0.030 off the number 93 in P5. Rins’ teammate Joan Mir had a solid opening session to finish P6, with Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pol Espargaro and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) completing the top 10.
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Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder claimed top spot in Moto2™ FP1 at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan thanks to a late 1:51.055, which saw the Championship challenger displace home hero Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) by 0.052. Title race leader Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completed the top three, 0.288 back from Binder.
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After Moto3™ FP1 at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, Championship leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) led the way with a 1:57.240, 0.124 faster than main title rival Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), with Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) completing the top three.
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Over 100 young hopefuls from 37 countries were put through the wringer this week as Red Bull Rookies Cup organisers finalised the entry list for the 2020 competition.
Billy Van Eerde was one of the 11 riders that automatically gained selection for 2020 off the back of their performances in the series this year, another 109 competitors faced off at Guadix this week for the remaining 11 slots on the grid for 2020.
Three Aussie kids and a young New Zealander were aiming to bolster the ANZAC ranks amongst the Rookies with Angus Grenfell, Senna Agius and Cros Francis joined by young Kiwi Cormac Buchanan at the selection event.
While some of them made it through to the final day of the selections ultimately they all missed out on securing a place for 2020. That does not rule them out from applying again in future years with more experience under their belts so this doesn’t draw a line under their hope to eventually join the ranks of the Red Bull Rookies.
11 riders ultimately made the cut with five Spaniards adding to the four of their countrymen that had already been selected. Thus Spain makes up almost half of the 22 rider entry list named so far.
Source: MCNews.com.au
Further into the Podcast, Brad Binder reveals when they really started to believe that something could be made out of their racing careers. “The goal from when my dad started to bring us overseas was to try and get in the MotoGP paddock. That was always the plan. Initially in Moto3, it was trying to make something of it. The goal was to get a free ride or just get something where was could stay in the paddock and make a bit of a career out of it. Then I think, probably the year I won the championship, or the year I started to do well, was when we said, okay, maybe we can make this a bit of a career!”
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“Nakagami and Cal have finished ahead of me in nearly all the races… He (Zarco) will ride a different bike, one that – in theory – is worse, but it could be an easier bike. So, surely it won’t be easy for him, but because of his motivation and eagerness, he’ll achieve what he can. Because after not having been able to ride for 3 or 4 races, he’ll be very keen to demonstrate what he can do and I’ll sure he’ll do well.”
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