Márquez on form in Indy opener

The confidence of Marc Márquez will have experienced both ends of the scale in the opening practice at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix after the 17 year-old Spaniard recovered from an early crash to set the fastest time. Still nursing the after effects of the dislocated shoulder he sustained at Brno the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider went down just 15 minutes into FP1 at the U.S. track, but showed great determination to remount his Derbi and post an effort of 1’49.452 on his 18th of 21 laps.

Last year’s race winner and title hopeful Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) was not far off his rival’s pace as he timed in at just 0.151s behind, with 2008 Indy winner Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) third (+0.246s). Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo) and Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) completed the top five, all under the 1’50” mark.

Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing), Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) and Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) were inside the top eight, with Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) and Luis Salom (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) finalising the top ten.

Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing) and wild card rider Kris Turner (Veloce Racing) both had falls in the session, with Webb having a run off at the end.