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Here’s how MotoGP at COTA went down
Marc Márquez kept his winning streak at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas going.
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Marc Márquez made it four wins from four visits to the Circuit of the Americas, as he took his second win of a young 2016 MotoGP season in the United States.
The Repsol Honda rider loves the US – he’s won all eight of his premier class races there since he first raced in the country as a MotoGP rider at COTA in 2013.
Starting from pole position, Márquez didn’t look back as he led from the outset, blazing a trail to victory at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas. Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo bounced back from his Argentina DNF with second place, while Andrea Iannone finished his first race of the season (after DNFs in Qatar and Argentina) on the podium in third as he delivered a rostrum result for Ducati just a week after his mishap at Termas de Río Hondo.
For all the excitement and joy on the podium, there was disappointment elsewhere though as some big names failed to make it to the finish line.
Jorge Lorenzo bounced back with a podium
© Yamaha
Andrea Iannone completed the top three
© Ducati
Maverick Viñales scored his best MotoGP result
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Valentino Rossi suffered disappointment
© Dorna Sports
Valentino Rossi slid out just a couple of laps in as he lost the front, and Dani Pedrosa had a scary moment heading into Turn 1 as he lost control and crashed out. The Repsol Honda man collected an unfortunate Andrea Dovizioso on his way down, as the Italian was denied a finish through no fault of his own for a second race running.
Maverick Viñales secured his best-ever MotoGP finish with fourth, and his Suzuki team-mate Aleix Espargaró gave the factory a double top-five result.
Márquez now leads the overall standings by 21 points from Lorenzo after just three rounds.
Here’s what else we learned during the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas…
MM93 leans in
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
We’re getting the best TV coverage ever of MotoGP in 2016
The game is being upped season upon season by Dorna, the commercial and TV rights holders of the sport and those responsible for producing the coverage we see on screen.
This year’s commitment to having on board cameras on every bike, and in a number of positions on the machines, is giving fans the opportunity to ride along with their heroes. Coupled with the new graphics that show lean angles, throttle and brake application, gear selection, speed and more, it’s extremely impressive.
Things don’t always run smoothly when MotoGP moves from race to race
Moving the MotoGP World Championship circus from race to race and around the world is a massive operation. Chartered freight flights packed with bikes and technical equipment (including tonnes of TV gear) is no small job. Neither is the transportation of the hundreds of people who make up the paddock at each race.
Getting to Austin for this race from Termas de Río Hondo proved to be a bit of an issue for some of the paddock though. Flight cancellation out of Argentina left some stranded, and needing to take bus rides as far as Buenos Aires to catch connecting flights.
It all turned into a bit of an epic, but was taken in good humour by most. The Octo Pramac Yakhnich MotoGP team took advantage of the situation to have some fun while charting their 67-hour marathon journey!
Tweet of the weekend
Jack Miller is a funny guy. His antics are well publicised. To make the time pass quicker (or just to annoy his Marc VDS team) on the laborious journey to Austin, he bought a penny whistle and a set of panpipes in Argentina. Imagine having to put up with this for more than 48 hours...
Unfortunately for Miller he had to withdraw from the GP weekend after fracturing a metatarsal in a practice session crash, and aggravating his healing ankle – an existing injury from pre-season.
MotoGP heads back to Europe for Round 4 in two weeks time, for the Gran Premio Red Bull de España at Jerez.
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