Ducati Sporting Club UK > News Items > Ducati Press Releases > Jack Miller closes Day 1 of free practices of the Grand Prix of The Americas in Austin with the second-fastest time overall. Sixth Pecco Bagnaia

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MotoGP | Round 15 - Americas GP 2021 | Saturday 2 October 2021

Jack Miller closes Day 1 of free practices of the Grand Prix of The Americas in Austin with the second-fastest time overall. Sixth Pecco Bagnaia

Jack Miller closed with the second-fastest time overall the first day of free practices for the Grand Prix of The Americas, held this weekend at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas (USA). Second, at the end of a wet FP1 session this morning, the Ducati Lenovo Team rider continued to show promise also in a dry FP2 session this afternoon, as he set the second-fastest time overall in 2:04.179, just 15 thousandths off today's pacesetter.

Pecco Bagnaia ended his first day at the Texan circuit of Austin with the sixth-fastest time overall. Eighth this morning in the rain, the Italian improved steadily during the dry afternoon session, finally setting the sixth fastest time overall with his Ducati Desmosedici GP during his final "time attack" attempt in FP2.

The Ducati Lenovo Team riders will be back on track tomorrow at 9:55 am local time for FP3 before tackling the official qualifying for the Americas GP starting from 2:10 pm at the end of FP4.

Jack Miller (#43 Ducati Lenovo Team) - 2nd (2:04.179)
"I'm happy with this first day of free practices at the Circuit of The Americas. It was crucial to finish in the top ten this afternoon since the weather forecast calls for rain tomorrow morning. In the wet in FP1 and the dry this afternoon, I felt comfortable straight away on the bike. The track has a lot of tricky spots: there are a lot of bumps, and this afternoon there were still some wet patches after the rain that fell this morning, but overall I'm satisfied and happy with the feeling I have with my Desmosedici GP here in Austin".

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) - 6th (2:04.663)
"It hasn't been an easy first day: unfortunately, the track conditions are not optimal. There are a lot of bumps, the bike moves a lot, so you have to stay focused on it to avoid making mistakes. Anyway, the situation is the same for everybody, so we have to try our best to be faster and make the bike a little easier to handle in these conditions. In today's time attack, I wasn't able to do a perfect lap, but the time was still good, and I'm sure that tomorrow we'll be able to make further progress".