The difficult and extremely bumpy track of the Circuit of the Americas did not make it easy for the NTS RW Racing GP riders. Jesko Raffin ended the first day in Texas in seventeenth and the Swiss was quite satisfied with that. Bo Bendsneyder was not with his 24th place in the combined standings after two practices. The Dutchman could not improve his time from FP1 in the afternoon session. The first day of the MotoGP of the Americas started quite nicely for both Bendsneyder and Raffin. With the fifteenth time, Bendsneyder was only a fraction away from direct qualification for Q2. With the seventeenth time, Raffin was also not far off. The intention was to continue like that in the second session. In the case of Raffin that worked out well. With 2.11.810 he was a lot faster, although the position did not change. In the case of Bendsneyder, the plan did not succeed. Due to a malfunction in the electronics, Bendsneyder had to go back to the pits twice to have things reset. That not only took time, but also rhythm, and as a result of which the Dutchman was not comfortable. Bendsneyder could not improve his 2.12.466 from FP1 and was therefore stuck in 24th. “That’s a shame,” said RW Racing GP team manager Jarno Janssen, “but the forecast is that it will rain tomorrow and then today’s times will be worthless anyway. Via Q1 we still have every opportunity to end up in Q2 and to make a good qualification, because both riders have a good pace. We have to wait and see how hard it will rain and how the track conditions will be in those circumstances.”
Bo Bendsneyder (24 – 2.12.466): “We had changed something at the front of the bike, but that didn’t work for me. Because we had already lost a lot of time due to the problems with the electronics, we could not reverse that change. That’s why I couldn’t improve my time in FP2. It’s is a shame, because it is there. We know that, so tomorrow we go for it.”
Results FP2:
Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
1 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Dynavolt Intact GP | 2’09.982 |
2 | Thomas LUTHI | Dynavolt Intact GP | 2’10.490 |
3 | Alex MARQUEZ | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 2’10.580 |
4 | Luca MARINI | SKY Racing Team VR46 | 2’10.584 |
5 | Sam LOWES | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 2’10.646 |
6 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Flexbox HP 40 | 2’10.661 |
7 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | Beta Tools Speed Up | 2’10.719 |
8 | Mattia PASINI | Flexbox HP 40 | 2’10.753 |
9 | Jorge NAVARRO | Beta Tools Speed Up | 2’10.763 |
10 | Remy GARDNER | ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team | 2’10.932 |
11 | Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team | 2’11.241 |
12 | Andrea LOCATELLI | Italtrans Racing Team | 2’11.415 |
13 | Simone CORSI | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | 2’11.514 |
14 | Enea BASTIANINI | Italtrans Racing Team | 2’11.605 |
15 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 2’11.643 |
16 | Iker LECUONA | American Racing KTM | 2’11.772 |
17 | Jesko RAFFIN | NTS RW Racing GP | 2’11.810 |
18 | Xavi VIERGE | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 2’11.835 |
19 | Marco BEZZECCHI | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 2’11.910 |
20 | Jorge MARTIN | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 2’12.016 |
21 | Joe ROBERTS | American Racing KTM | 2’12.197 |
22 | Khairul Idham PAWI | Petronas Sprinta Racing | 2’12.259 |
23 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NTS RW Racing GP | 2’12.471 |
24 | Dominique AEGERTER | MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward | 2’12.646 |
25 | Philipp OETTL | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 2’13.637 |
26 | Somkiat CHANTRA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 2’13.937 |
27 | Lukas TULOVIC | Kiefer Racing | 2’14.585 |
28 | Gabriele RUIU | MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward | 2’14.832 |
29 | Dimas EKKY PRATAMA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 2’15.601 |
30 | Xavi CARDELUS | Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team | 2’21.291 |
31 | Jake DIXON | Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team |
Source: motogp.com, rwracinggp.com