Sitting outside of the top 10 places needed to progress straight through to the pole shootout session in qualifying as FP2 drew to a close, Martin leaped up to top sport with a 2m02.178s.
This put the 2022 Circuit of the Americas poleman 0.063 seconds clear of reigning world champion Bagnaia and LCR Honda’s Alex Rins, as current points leader Marco Bezzecchi missed the Q2 cut at the end of Friday’s running.
Despite dark clouds looming over the Austin venue, rainfall mercifully stayed away as a number of riders improved on their FP1 times in the early part of the hour-long second session.
The biggest mover in the first 10 minutes was RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira, who leaped up to third overall with a 2m03.407s on a fresh soft rear slick.
Just as the Portuguese rider had moved up the order, he crashed going into the Turn 2 right-hander after running wide onto the painted white line on the edge of the circuit.
Oliveira was unharmed in the fast tumble, but would endure a second fall later in the session at the Turn 12 hairpin and would drop down the order to 15th come the chequered flag.
With just over half an hour of the session remaining, Martin jumped up to first with a 2m03.241s, before Honda’s Joan Mir deposed him 17 minutes later with a 2m03.113s.
The final 15 minutes of FP2 turned into a dummy qualifying as the grid made their bids to secure a slot in Saturday’s pole shootout session.
A few moments after Mir had gone top, LCR Honda counterpart Alex Rins edged ahead with a 2m03.048s – though it was short-lived, as Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro took top spot with a 2m03.043s.
Maverick Vinales on the sister factory Aprilia dipped underneath the 2m03s mark minutes later with a 2m02.860s, before VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini fired in a 2m02.662s.
Ducati’s Bagnaia would move up to head the timesheets with a 2m02.544s with around eight minutes left on the clock, but it would not be enough to deny a hard-charging Martin on his flying lap in the dying stages of FP2.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The Pramac rider produced a 2m02.178s to see out Friday as the fastest rider.
Team-mate Johann Zarco was left down in 14th after a crash at Turn 6 in the closing seconds, with the Pramac rider losing the front-end of his Ducati.
His bike frighteningly came to a halt in the middle of the circuit and forced Honda’s Mir into avoiding action, with the Spaniard falling from his machine as he shot…
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