Jake Dixon topped Friday’s two wet sessions at the Circuit of the Americas and felt extremely competitive throughout, while Filip Salac was 28^th.

Relentless morning rain meant the first Moto2 session of the weekend was held in fully wet conditions at the spectacular Circuit of the Americas, half an hour outside Austin, Texas.

After a lunchtime shower, the rain ceased ahead of the all-important Practice session, which started at 14:05 local time.

Although the track dried up toward the end of Practice, it was still wet enough for wet tyre use throughout the 40-minute session.

Jake Dixon, 1st – 2’18.501

Following on from his dominant victory in Argentina, Jake was extremely comfortable throughout Friday as he consistently posted the fastest times in both sessions.

The 29-year old was fastest in FP1 by 1.1s while his advantage in Practice was 0.6s over Tony Arbolino in second place.

“Day one in Austin is done. It’s been a tricky day. The weather conditions weren’t ideal. And it was my first time in the full wet this year with this year’s package. One session in Argentina was a bit wet but it wasn’t like this morning, or even the afternoon when the track was drying. The team’s done a fantastic job and I’m loving every minute of it out there. It’s a work in progress as tomorrow will be a new day. It’ll be hot and sunny here for the next two days so we need to start tomorrow as if we’re starting a new weekend. Until then we’ll enjoy this moment. I want to thank the team for all their support as always.”

Filip Salac, 28^th – 2’22.588

Filip found the going tough on day 1. After suffering several crashes on Pirelli’s wet tyres last year, he admitted to struggling with a lack of confidence on Friday.

That was reflected in the times. The Czech rider was 20^th in FP1, while he was unable to place higher than 28^th in Practice.

“It was a really hard day for us in Austin, a track that I like. the conditions were wet all day. And it seems I’m struggling in the wet conditions, as I was last year with the Pirellis. I wasn’t able to feel ‘unblocked’ after the crashes I had with wet tyres last year. I’m so sorry for the team as this was one of the worst days of my career. To finish last in Practice wasn’t ideal. Hopefully, tomorrow will be dry. If it is, I’m confident we’ll be toward the front. For the future we need to find something to improve my feeling in the wet conditions, that’s for sure.”