Limited laps for the Repsol Honda Team at the weather-related Austrian GP

Localized rain kept everyone indoors in Free Practice 2 after a promising first session for Alex Marquez and Stefan Bradl at the Red Bull Ring.

The notoriously unpredictable mountain weather in Spielberg around the Red Bull Ring was in full swing on Friday at round five of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship. The forecasts had predicted heavy rain for the entire weekend, but this rain would only fall during Free Practice 2 and initially only around Turn 3.

MotoGP rookie Alex Marquez quickly found his way around the 4.3-kilometer Red Bull Ring and was in the top ten early in Free Practice 1. Unfortunately, Alex couldn’t improve his time later in Free Practice 1 when a yellow flag came out for a faller at the front of the track. Free Practice 2 only allowed a few minutes of running as a rain shower kept most of the field inside. Alex finished a scouting lap early before setting off for the final five minutes when conditions improved slightly. Alex finished the day in 19th place overall, 1,056 seconds ahead of the fastest time.

Stefan Bradl returned to the Red Bull Ring in 2019 after a race with the Repsol Honda Team. The German closed the gap again in Free Practice 1, finishing 1.2 seconds behind the fastest driver. With little knowledge to gain, Bradl spent most of FP2 indoors, but a late lap put him in tenth place of the session.

It was another impressive day for Takaaki Nakagami on the LCR Honda, finishing FP1 and the overall day in P3. He was just 0.185 seconds behind Pol Espargaro and is aiming for a strong grid position tomorrow.

Both Alex and Stefan will return to the track for free practice 3 tomorrow, Saturday, August 14 at 09:55 local time. Rain is forecast again, but today it has been shown that the forecasts can be wrong.