Sunday race round up from COTA MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3

MotoGP 2023

Round Three – COTA

MotoGP Race

Alex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) piled the pressure on defending world champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) until the Italian lost the front and slid out of the race, a fate that befell eight riders across the 20 lap race at COTA.  Three of which went down on the opening lap, Alex Marquez was skittled by Jorge Martin after the Pramac Ducati rider lost the front, while Aleix Espargaro went down all on his own.

Jack Miller looked set for a podium finish before his front washed out, a few laps later his Red Bull KTM team-mate Brad Binder also lost the front. Stefan Bradl, Taka Nakagami, Joan Mir and Raul Fernandez were also all in the ‘I hate the Michelin front tyre’ club in Texas. Nine riders hitting the showers early and only 13 riders reaching the chequered flag, including Binder who remounted after his crash to claim a handy three-points for coming home last.

After Pecco’s demise Rins kept the hammer down and his silky smooth style saw him rewarded with 25-points. Rins the first rider other than Marc Marquez to win with Honda since Cal Crutchlow at the 2018 Argentinian GP (which was also the most recent MotoGP win for LCR).

For the first third of the race it was Bagnaia leading Rins while Jack Miller and Fabio Quartararo gave chase.  But then Jack went down six-laps in, followed by Pecco on the next lap. With Rins promoted to the lead Quartararo inherited second place.

Luca Marini started to come to the fore. Pulling away from team-mate Marco Bezzecchi to close down and then eventually pass Quartararo.  Rins was almost metronomic out front and kept his lead over Marini around two-seconds before pulling further away at the end to take the chequered flag 3.5-seconds over the Italian.

Rins brought to an end Honda’s longest winless streak since they returned to the premier class in 1982 to an end, it’s also the first LCR victory since 2018 and the team’s 100th podium in the Grand Prix paddock. It also means Rins has won a staggering 50 per cent of the last six MotoGP races if we look back his Suzuki swan songs at the end of 2022… and he’s done it on two different bikes.

Fabio Quartararo rounded out the podium after a great ride at a track where the Ducati’s sucked the paint off the Yamaha once the Desmo machines clicked top gear. It almost looked comical when Marini blew past Quartararo and made it look like the Frenchman was on a Moto2 bike.   

Marini took second place and a first Grand Prix podium in the MotoGP class, with Quartararo snatching his first podium of 2023 in third.

A heady fight for fourth was won by Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) as he stretched away from Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team) despite plummeting down the order at the start, with Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) taking sixth.

Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing), Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP) were next up, with Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3) completing the top ten, the rookie’s best results thus far.

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MotoGP now leaves the USA after another shuffle of the leaderboard, but on top remains Bezzecchi, his points lead over Bagnaia now 11. Alex Rins moves up to third and is now only six-points behind Bagnaia. Maverick Vinales is only two-points behind Rins and holds down fourth.

In two weeks MotoGP reconvenes at Jerez for round four of the 21 round championship.

MotoGP Race Results

MotoGP Championship Points

Moto2 Race

The Moto2 race at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas was an instant classic as a two-way scrap for victory saw Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) just pip Tony Arbolino (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team) on the final lap, setting up the perfect Championship rivalry in the process.

The battle for third also raged on all race long, with Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) carving his way through the group on the final lap and taking his first Moto2 podium, also the first Dutch podium in the intermediate class since Wilco Zeelenberg in 1994!

It was drama before the lights had even turned on in Texas as Jake Dixon (GASGAS Aspar Team) crashed on the Warm Up lap, halting his chances before the race had even started. When the lights did go out though it was a perfect start from Acosta, who took a tight line at Turn 1 to defend the lead before Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedUp) muscled his way through. Meanwhile, Arbolino made an incredible round-the-outside move through the slalom section to put himself into third.

Acosta was determined as ever as the Spaniard retook the lead on the way down to Turn 12, before a Lopez lunge at the penultimate corner attempted to take the lead but saw the Spaniard run wide and drop down to third – behind Arbolino.

With 14 laps to go Acosta attempted to stretch the field as he put the hammer down, with Lopez latched onto his coattails, but he hit a false neutral at the tricky Turn 12, allowing Lopez to take the lead as the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider dropped down to P5.

Acosta wasted no time in getting past Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) as the Spaniard put himself into 4th with his sights set on Arbolino and Lopez in front, and the three were able to escape Canet – before Lopez made a mistake and dropped down to sixth. This was it: the duel was on.

It was cat and mouse, with neither blinking, before with three to go Acosta found his way through as Arbolino ran wide at Turn 1. Further on around the lap it was then his turn, running wide to allow Arbolino back through. The Italian led across the line on the penultimate lap and it was gearing up for the perfect last lap scrap.

Once it was crunch time, Acosta couldn’t get any closer to the rear wheel of Arbolino’s Elf Marc VDS Kalex machine, but at Turn 12 the number 37 pounced and made it stick. That left Arbolino with one more shot at victory coming into the final two corners.

Acosta ran incredibly defensively through them, allowing no way through for the Italian, but Arbolino took a wide swooping line into the final corner setting himself up for the drag to the line. It wasn’t quite enough but not by much, with Acosta taking the victory by 0.146s.

With the leading duo checking out at the front, the battle for third was hotting up nicely as Canet was coming under pressure from Fermin Aldeguer (BETA Tools SpeedUp), and the two QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 riders of Jeremy Alcoba and Filip Salač. After a charge up the order though, it was Bendsneyder who took it to make a little history for rider and nation.

Alcoba finished fourth with teammate Salač rounding out the top five, with the SpeedUp riders of Aldeguer and Lopez just behind. Canet, polesitter Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing) and Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp) completed the top ten.

Moto2 Race Results

Moto2 Championship Points

Moto3 Race

Ivan Ortola did it in style at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, fighting at the front throughout and then pushing to just stay ahead of a serious scrap for the podium.

Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) took second, slicing back through after being forced into some avoiding action following a crash for then leader Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP), with Xavier Artigas (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) completing the podium as Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) lost out late on.

The race began as the classic Moto3 freight train, but bit by bit a front, smaller group managed to escape: Sasaki, Masia, Artigas, Moreira, Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Ortola, after a mammoth wonder save early doors. And that’s how it stayed despite some chopping and changing, with the key drama coming in the latter stages.

That drama was a crash for Sasaki as the Japanese rider lost it in the lead, and in turn also forced Masia into avoiding action. That put the number 5 into a race against time to tag back onto the back of the now four-rider fight for the podium, but that he did and he was right back in the mix as the field prepared for the final lap.

Ortola led over the line, but Artigas attacked at Turn 1 and took over. It remained line astern for the rest of the sector, but the next move came from Moreira as he attacked Masia for third. And then he attacked for the lead, straight up, as Ortola also moved up into second.

Moreira was in control heading onto the back straight though, somehow keeping the momentum, but the braking zone saw it come apart. Just a little too deep, the Brazilian opened the door and Ortola needed no second invitation, taking back the lead.

The fight for third just behind was even tighter, with Masia vs Artigas vs Holgado on the brakes and the number 5 coming out on top. The next target was Moreira, and the move came at the final corner. Ortola nailed it to head over the line for his first Grand Prix win as Masia attacked for second just behind, sending Moreira off line and causing a shuffle as the group all tucked in and pinned it.

Masia made it to the flag first, with Artigas then just pipping Moreira. Holgado was forced to settle for fifth but that fifth means he retains the Championship lead, although now equal on points with Moreira.

Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) headed up a close second group ahead of David Salvador (CIP Green Power), David Alonso (Valresa GASGAS Aspar), his team-mate Ryusei Yamanaka and Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the top ten.

Moto3 Race Results

Moto3 Championship Points

2023 MotoGP Calendar