Austin MotoGP: Marc Marquez unstoppable in Friday practice

Having already proved unstoppable in pre-season testing at the Texan venue and the Friday morning session, it was little surprise when Marquez led the way again in practice two.

He briefly put himself 1.8 seconds clear of his rivals before his Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa closed the gap to more respectable levels.

Marquez ended his day with the fastest laps of all: a 2m05.031s and then a second tour just 0.016s slower.

That was over three seconds quicker than in the morning, when cold and windy conditions added to the challenge of the dusty surface and the unfamiliar track.

Second-placed Pedrosa was 0.554s adrift.

Stefan Bradl made it an all-Honda top three as he jumped to third for LCR in the final moments. The German had spent a while on top early on.

He was 1.1s off Marquez's pace, but still half a second clear of the top non-Honda rider, which was Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo.

His team-mate Valentino Rossi completed the top five, followed by Tech 3's Cal Crutchlow - the quickest of the riders who had not tested at Austin in March.

Andrea Dovizioso lost time when he had to park his primary Ducati at the far end of the track with a mechanical problem. The Italian still managed seventh place.

Nicky Hayden was the quickest of the home riders on the second Ducati, taking ninth behind Alvaro Bautista, and just ahead of Ben Spies.

Aleix Espargaro set the CRT pace in 11th, a second clear of nearest rival Yonny Hernandez.

Espargaro's Aspar team-mate Randy de Puniet had a wild crash in the penultimate complex of corners, but avoided injury despite some scary moments as he balanced on his out-of-control Aprilia on its way to the ground.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 2m05.031s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 2m05.585s  + 0.554s
 3.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             2m06.173s  + 1.142s
 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                2m06.637s  + 1.606s
 5.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                2m06.868s  + 1.837s
 6.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha         2m06.899s  + 1.868s
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                2m07.236s  + 2.205s
 8.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         2m07.256s  + 2.225s
 9.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                2m07.699s  + 2.668s
10.  Ben Spies         Pramac Ducati         2m08.034s  + 3.003s
11.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia         2m08.299s  + 3.268s
12.  Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia           2m09.374s  + 4.343s
13.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         2m09.424s  + 4.393s
14.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia         2m09.739s  + 4.708s
15.  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati         2m09.860s  + 4.829s
16.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Aprilia       2m10.411s  + 5.380s
17.  Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  2m10.720s  + 5.689s
18.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  2m11.183s  + 6.152s
19.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Suter-BMW        2m11.614s  + 6.583s
20.  Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia           2m11.828s  + 6.797s
21.  Lukas Pesek       Ioda-Suter-BMW        2m12.230s  + 7.199s
22.  Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda     2m12.462s  + 7.431s
23.  Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  2m12.504s  + 7.473s
24.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  2m12.573s  + 7.542s
25.  Blake Young       Attack APR-Kawasaki   2m13.158s  + 8.127s
26.  Mike Barnes       GPTech BCL-Suzuki     2m16.169s  + 11.138s