Preview and schedule for the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas

MotoGP 2022 – Round Four – COTA
Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas

The wait is over and we have the answer: the King of COTA is on the way. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) will be back in action at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, ready to rodeo and recovered from his Indonesian GP crash. For the rest of the grid, that could spell a very different weekend ahead as the number 93 has only once failed to win at the venue in MotoGP. It staged his rookie win, he was undefeated until crashing out in 2019, and he’s qualified on pole at the venue for every single event since 2013 – except last year. But then, last year he still went on to win by some margin. He remains, then, the favourite… but there’s plenty more to talk about too.

First mention has to go to Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia. There was only one factory on the grid who hadn’t won in MotoGP and one rider who had never taken a Grand Prix win in any class, so it was a truly historic feat for man and machine. It was also – stats and grand narratives aside – just an objectively very impressive performance. Few could go with the number 41 out front, with only Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) in the battle and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins and Joan Mir shadowing the duel. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) also took his best result since moving to the factory by far in P7, so the question now is… what do the Noale factory have in the locker for Texas?

Suzuki, too, will be interesting – and Rins arrives not only fresh from the podium but also as the only non-MM93 winner at the track. Ever. Can he bridge that gap that kept him just outside striking distance in Termas? His teammate, 2020 MotoGP Champion Joan Mir, will also be looking to do the same, with the number 36 having just missed out on the rostrum. He did say, however, that he’s got that 2020 feeling back – and that a little more time may have allowed a little more attack in Argentina. Team Suzuki Ecstar also lead the teams’ Championship after another interesting race day tango, and have been one of the most consistent teams and factories on the grid, so promises of progress shouldn’t be taken lightly for their rivals.

Livio Suppo – Suzuki Team Manager

“Both our riders had a successful race in Argentina last week with third and fourth. That first podium of the season was important to us and of course it’s given us a boost. We come into this race in Texas leading the Teams’ Championship and we’d like to build on that. The forecast looks good for the weekend, and although COTA is a highly technical circuit, I feel confident that we can do well. Alex is especially excited to come back here, and Joan is ready to get his best finish.”

For Ducati, meanwhile, it’s returned to somewhat of a modern classic for the moment: they lead the Constructors’ standings thanks to three different riders in the first three races. First it was Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP), then Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) and now Martin, and the obvious omission is the Ducati Lenovo Team. Argentina proved a tough weekend overall for both Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller, and Miller himself offered a slightly heart-breaking stat on social media after coming home in 14th – having started 14th – saying it’s the first race he can ever remember taking part in where he didn’t overtake a single rider. But he has had some very good form at COTA, and will be confident of a turnaround.

Jack Miller

“I’m happy to get back on track this weekend and put the Argentina race behind me. The last GP was strange: we hadn’t raced at Termas for two years, and we struggled a bit with such a tight schedule. Now we go back to Texas for the GP of the Americas at a track that I like and where, in general, I can be fast. I’m determined to do well and finally turn my season around“.

Bagnaia, meanwhile, already bounced back on Sunday, at least into the top five after a really tough first day. That was an impressive show of mettle, and the Italian also has form in the lone star state having been on the podium there last year and qualified on pole. Will more familiar and recently-tilled turf prove a key positive for the Italian?

Martin will want to keep his frontrunning form having taken a front row in every race so far and then failed to convert it into points or podiums until Termas, and Zarco will want to bounce back. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) nailed Saturday and then slipped down the order on Sunday, ultimately also beaten by the other side of the box. Marco Bezzecchi is now the leading Rookie in 2022 after taking that impressive ninth place, with the Italian having shown flashes of brilliance already but not having been able to quite put it all together on Sunday until Argentina. Can he keep it pinned at COTA?

KTM’s Argentina, meanwhile, was a mixed bag but not a bad one considering the newest factory on the grid’s level of experience at the venue – and the fact that Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had never actually ridden it before in the premier class. He took P6 and remains second in the riders’ standings, seven points off Aleix Espargaro at the top. Team-mate Miguel Oliveira had a tougher weekend that went through Q1 to P13 in the race, but there were positives – and with Yamaha and Honda continuing to have a more difficult season, the team and constructor standings remain very healthy for the Austrian factory even as Aprilia, Ducati and Suzuki pipped them in Argentina. Then there is the Tech3 KTM rookie pairing of Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner as they fight their own battles for supremacy within the team.

Remy Gardner

“I look forward to this weekend here in Austin. Last year, I was quite fast on a Moto2 bike, so we will see what I can do with a MotoGP engine. There has been some resurfacing work done in some corners since we came in October, so I am curious to see the results of the re-asphalt. Apart from this, I think that we have to find a bit more of a direction with the bike this weekend and hopefully make the step we want.”

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Over at Yamaha, the feelings will be less mixed. Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Andrea Dovizioso (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP) both suffered issues at Termas – the former a puncture and the latter a technical problem – so there at least, there’s a could have been. And Darryn Binder (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP) continues learning the ropes. But reigning Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) completed the race with nothing actually going wrong, but like Qatar, did not come home with the position he wanted – and not for lack of trying. The number 20 went backwards off the line and backwards some more before eventually taking P8, explaining that rear grip was the biggest hurdle. Last year at COTA he was best of the rest behind what was essentially Marquez’ private Marquez vs Marquez challenge at the front, so it will be interesting to see what has changed – or hasn’t – as we return to Texas only a few months later…

Fabio Quartararo

“Austin played a key part in my championship win last year. That second place was like a victory because it gave me my first match point to secure the championship. This time we arrive here in a totally different situation and with a different mindset. Last year I always tried to win, but I was also trying to keep the lead in the championship. We can afford to be more on the attack now. We will do our best as always. Last year the rear grip here was pretty decent, but the bumps were tough. The track has been resurfaced since then. I‘m curious to see what we can do this time round.”

For Honda, finally, the return of Marquez likely marks a return to high hopes following an excellent debut for the new RC213V in Qatar and then a more difficult two rounds. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) recovered well from being outside Q1 to fourth on the grid before crashing out in Argentina too, showing there is speed even if everything didn’t go to plan on Sunday. Pol Espargaro, as well as Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Castrol) and Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol), will want more from this weekend though… so will having the COTA benchmark back in the saddle help Honda as the new bike gets fettled in?

MotoGP Championship Points Standings

Moto2

Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) didn’t finish pre-season as the rider on top of the timesheets or grabbing the headlines, but after the first three races the Italian has most definitely taken centre stage and made it his own. On every podium so far and on top of two of them, it’s going pretty well – an understatement on a par with the quiet confidence of the man himself. So is there reason to doubt the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas will be the same?

The main competition in the standings so far has come from Aron Canet (Flexbox HP 40), and in Argentina the Spaniard only just missed out on also boasting three podiums from three. “Just” fourth wasn’t down to a speed deficit either, it was most definitely down simply to the handiwork of Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) as the Japanese rider attacked late and well to take his first podium of the season. But for Canet, after struggling in previous seasons to be as consistent as some of his competitors, there is heart to be taken from having been fast at every track so far – and it’s hard to bet against him being so in Texas, the number 40 having also won there before in Moto3.

There is actually another rider with a 100% podium record after Vietti though: Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia). The Thai rider missed the season opener with a hand injury and then promptly returned and won his first race, and another podium in Argentina only backs that up to make it 2/2 so far in 2022. Team manager Hiroshi Aoyama said in pre-season that both Ogura and Chantra could fight at the front and potentially launch a title bid this year, and some corners of the paddock appeared to think the latter overly optimistic. It must feel even sweeter, then, for the number 35 to have taken Thailand’s first Grand Prix win and been part of the first double podium for the team.

Argentina was also the first time two former Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup riders shared the intermediate class podium, and with Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) on the box in Moto3, ATC alumni took a third of the available podium places on race day in Argentina. Ogura, who last year had the upper hand on Chantra, definitely shared his teammate’s joy at his recent successes, but the Japanese rider will most definitely want to turn those tables back as well. What can he do in Texas?

From one side of the world to the other, there’s also the American contingent with some big aims for COTA. There are now three home heroes on the grid in Moto2, and although the rookie – Sean Dylan Kelly (American Racing) – did a little moonlighting in Termas thanks to his parents hailing from Argentina, this is a huge weekend for him and the two veterans: Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) and Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) as they race on home turf.

Roberts had a tougher time of it in 2021 at COTA, but this season so far there’s been concrete progress and the number 16 will want more from his home GP as we return. Beaubier, meanwhile, came out swinging last year with some serious speed – making track knowledge count for a lot and taking an impressive fifth place, so close to that first podium. What can he do this season? He’ll likely have to contend with Elf Marc VDS Racing’s Sam Lowes and Tony Arbolino – as well as Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Augusto Fernandez and Pedro Acosta, and Jake Dixon (Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team) – on his way through the top ten to the upper echelons, but last season Beaubier had the goods.

Finally, what will we see from Fermin Aldeguer (MB Conveyors Speed Up)? The Spaniard should have been hyped since the start of last season after his performance in the Moto2 European Championship and his first Grands Prix, and his progress in the World Championship has only validated both his and then-teammate Alonso Lopez’s 2021 form in the FIM JuniorGP paddock. Now, Aldeguer is beating records set by soon-to-be MotoGP Legend Jorge Lorenzo as he took over as the youngest ever pole-sitter in intermediate class history – by more than a year. Race day and that incident with Vietti will leave him wanting to prove more than a few points in Texas.

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

Sergio Garcia (Solunion GASGAS Aspar Team) vs Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) was an instant classic in Argentina, with both underlining their speed in 2022 and Garcia once again sending it on Sunday, pulling off that final lunge to perfection as the number 11 tends to do. The stage could well be set for another showdown in Texas between the duo too, although there is last year’s winner who’ll likely have different ideas about the weekend ahead: Izan Guevara (Solunion GASGAS Aspar Team). As well as the rest of the pretty packed grid…

Guevara and Garcia were the breakaway early on in Argentina before the number 28 suddenly suffered a technical problem, adding a dash of bad luck to the qualifying penalty that already dampened his charge in Qatar. If it had stayed as it was in Termas before that though, the sophomore would have been leading the Championship, equal on points with his teammate but the first of them to win.

Shoulda woulda coulda is often of little use in racing, but one time it can be relevant is when the points don’t quite reflect speed – especially judging a sophomore rider like Guevara against the wealth of experience of Garcia and Foggia. The number 28 appears to have gone under the radar for some in 2021, despite having arrived in Moto3 from winning the FIM JuniorGP World Championship as a rookie and won a Grand Prix race as a rookie, but it looks like it’s game on now.

So can anyone else keep challenging the sheer speed of Foggia, the send it masterclasses of Garcia and the elbows out of Guevara? So far, the next fastest rider – and sometimes fastest of all – has been Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max), but a mixture of bad luck and trouble has hit the Japanese rider in the first couple of rounds. In Argentina though he made it happen, despite a Long Lap for the incident with Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) in Lombok, and sliced back through from outside the points.

Speaking of Migno, the Italian has also been fast but suffered mixed fates since his awesome win in the season opener. He’ll be one to watch, as will Termas sparring partner Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo), also fast but lacking points. Kaito Toba (CIP – Green Power) and Deniz Öncu (Red Bull KTM Tech3) are lurking in the standings thanks to a little better consistency, and the likes of Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing), Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) are in their stride.

The same can also be said of some of the very impressive rookies joining the class this season. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) was once again the top debutant with another impressive finish in the top six, but as the Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) gets back to fitness, this time Moreira had close company.

Aussie youngster Joel Kelso (CIP – Green Power) impressed in Argentina with provisional pole after the first runs and then a second row start, before losing touch with the front group but still recording a top ten finish.

Moto3 Championship Points Standings

MotoGP weekend schedule
Times in AEST

Friday (Saturday)

Saturday (Sunday)

Sunday (Monday)