Category: MotoGp

Whilst Saturday in Jerez saw the MotoGP riders circulate under clouds, and Sunday morning’s warm up the same, the Andalusian sun was out for the race, and had been cooking the track up since the beginning of the Moto3 race.

Perhaps this is the reason for the subdued pace at the start of the race. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) made the holeshot, and led from Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) at the start. Having been the fastest on pace all weekend, it might have been expected that Marquez would pull away, running the high-1’37s he had been capable of through the weekend. However, Marquez’ first laps were in the mid-1’38s – in fact, the second lap was his slowest of the race.

There seemed to be chance for Morbidelli, who was very close to Marquez in several places, and looked poised to pass him for the lead. However, once Marquez had settled into his rhythm and the pace dropped to low-1’38s and high-1’37s, the gap began to grow. Once Morbidelli had lost touch of Marquez, his rhythm seemed to drop.

Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate, Fabio Quartararo, was soon by Morbidelli. There was already a two second gap to Marquez, but the Frenchman was able to pull clear of his more experienced teammate, who was now under pressure from Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) after the Spaniard had got past Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) a lap or two later than he would have hoped.

It took Rins another lap or two to line up Morbidelli, and as he passed the Italian for third, Quartararo retired simultaneously. It was quite heart-breaking to see the Frenchman put out of contention after such a fantastic weekend, a stunning pole and with such a clear shot at a first-ever MotoGP podium. But a gearbox or gear lever problem forced him out, and Rins inherited his secod place.

Quartararo’s retirement meant that when Rins passed Morbidelli, the Italian retained a provisional podium position, but it was not long before Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was able to pass him in the straight from turn five to turn six. The speed with which Vinales was able to dispatch Morbidelli indicated the satellite Yamaha rider’s tyre woes. They were on equal machinery but Vinales took only half of the 0.3-mile long straight to pass his stablemate.

Dovizioso was next to pass Morbidelli, and then Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati). The two factory Ducati riders would then engage Maverick Vinales in the battle for the final podium spot.

In the meantime, Morbidelli fell back to Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) behind, who were also coming under pressure from Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) who had made almost no progress from the first lap when he was tenth. Quartararo’s retirement had promoted Rossi to ninth, but in the mid-race he appeared to have no answer for the riders ahead of him.

But, as Morbidelli fell behind Crutchlow and then Miller, Rossi arrived, and made quick work of the three of them. It was too late for the Italian to do anything about the factory Ducatis and, anyway, he lacked the pace late in the race.

By now, Alex Rins had given up any hope of closing on the dominant Marquez, and was starting to slip closer to Vinales, who was pushing on to try to keep Dovizioso at bay, whilst Petrucci had been dropped by the pair of them.
In the end, there was no change. Marquez picked up his second successive Jerez victory, his third in the premier class, and received the championship lead with it.

Alex Rins, on the other hand, moved up to second in the championship, one point adrift of Marquez with a solid second place. Once more, it was Rins’ qualifying which prevented him from taking the race win. It seems to be a Suzuki issue more than a Rins issue when it comes to qualifying, since Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is rarely strong in time attacks either, but in any case it is an issue that Rins and Suzuki need to remedy if they are to achieve the results necessary to challenge for the championship.

Maverick Vinales had never achieved a premier class podium in Jerez before this weekend. He arrived at Yamaha at the wrong moment for that, and the Suzuki always struggled in the heat whilst he was a GSX-RR pilot. However, his third place is proof of the progress Yamaha has made over the winter, and that should give him, the team, his teammate and the factory confidence going forward – they are in the right direction.

Vinales’ resolve in the final lap – which was his fastest of the race – of course meant Dovizioso missed the podium, and is still without a podium in a premier class race at Jerez. Nonetheless, the Italian goes to one of Ducati’s strongest tracks in two weeks’ time at Le Mans only three points off Marquez’ championship lead.

Danilo Petrucci took fifth place, his best finish of the season after a trio of sixths to open his factory Ducati career. Like Dovizioso, Petrucci had seemed to have the potential to fight with Marquez in the race, certainly to have a good shot at the podium. However, another poor qualifying limited his chances, and he struggled for pace at the end of the race.

Valentino Rossi salvaged a sixth place out of what was quite a bad weekend. If it was cloudy he may have had more, but it was not and he suffered in the mid-race. Like Petrucci, his potential was limited by a poor qualifying position, but ultimately The Doctor lacked pace in Jerez, and will need better in the next races if he is to do as people suggested after Austin, and fight for the championship.

Despite being passed by Crutchlow earlier in the race, Morbidelli was able to re-pass the Briton towards the end. Seventh was perhaps not the result the Italian was hoping for after a stunning qualifying, but it is possible to say that he got sucked in by Marquez. He saw seven world titles in front of him, and who can blame him for wanting to have a go at that? Perhaps it was that which killed his tyres and his late race pace, but either way there is no doubt Morbidelli would have learned a lot in this race.

Cal Crutchlow picked a medium rear tyre. He was in front of Morbidelli when Valentino Rossi went past them, but was nearly two seconds behind at the flag, and only a couple of tenths clear of teammate Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU). Crutchlow admitted in the weekend that he was suffering with his foot after the first three races, and for mobility in his injured ankle. His FP4 crash was unlikely to help his physical condition, but after pole position last year the Brit will have been disappointed with his performance this weekend.

Stefan Bradl (Team HRC) had the prettiest bike on the grid, and rounded out the top ten with it, quite impressively.

Five seconds and two places – Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was in between – behind Bradl was Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) who was unexpectedly slow. He dropped to fifteenth in the early stages, and made little progress from there, which was a complete surprise after his strong pace in the weekend, ending the race twelfth.

Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) assumed his normal position as top KTM in thirteenth place, six seconds ahead of teammate Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) who turned his disastrous weekend into two points. Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) took the final point in fifteenth.

Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) was eight seconds behind teammate Rabat, and nearly five seconds in front of Aprilia test rider Bradley Smith (Aprilia Racing Team). A couple of tenths further back of Smith was Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) who had his most difficult weekend of MotoGP so far, but still nine seconds ahead of Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3) who was last of the nineteen finishers.

Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) crashed at turn two, before Quartararo joined him in retirement. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) had spent the majority of the race staring at the backside of Valentino Rossi, but ended it on the floor at turn thirteen. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) was down at turn thirteen, too – Aleix Espargaro ran wide whilst passing the Aussie, Miller cut back underneath him but folded the front, and Espargaro was lucky to stay on – Miller less so.

The overcast skies of FP3, which were expected to disappear in the afternoon, remained for MotoGP qualifying at the fourth round of the World Championship in Jerez.

The action started early, in Q1. Both factory Yamaha riders had failed to go directly to Q2 from the combined free practice times, and so had to battle it out in Q1. As has become quite ordinary, Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was unable to advance to Q2. Spinning the rear tyre on his final lap cost him three tenths in the second sector, and he dropped three more in sector three. This meant that Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) joined Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who went faster in Q1 than he had been all weekend, in advancing from Q1 to Q2.

The real surprise, though, came in Q2, when Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) took pole position in just his fourth MotoGP, and the same for the team. In taking pole, Quartararo became the first rookie pole-sitter since Johann Zarco on the satellite Yamaha at Motegi 2017, and the youngest rider to set pole in MotoGP history, taking the record from Marc Marquez who took his first pole at Austin 2013. The Frenchman has had a fantastic start to his premier class career, but even still such a result was completely unexpected. He now has the chance to fight for his first MotoGP podium on Sunday. The same can be said for Quartararo’s Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate, Franco Morbidelli, who completed a quite perfect day for the new team by making it a 1-2 for them on the grid for tomorrow.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was the favourite for pole coming into this session. The Spaniard did three runs, but the first one was the fastest, when he seemed to be held up by Repsol Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo in the final corner. He was attacking his last lap in Q2 until turn seven, when he lost the front. That was the moment that gave Quartararo pole. Despite missing the front of the grid, Marquez will still be the strong favourite to take the race win.

However, Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) will have something to say about that. The Italian has shown good pace in a variety of conditions through the weekend, and has put himself in a good position to try and attack tomorrow. From fourth on the grid, his ‘holeshot device’ could be quite useful tomorrow afternoon.

Joining Dovizioso on row two tomorrow will be Maverick Vinales, who perhaps benefited from the cloud coverage but nonetheless made a better qualification than he perhaps thought possible yesterday, and 2018 Jerez pole sitter, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL).

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) went three tenths slower than his FP3 time – which at the time was an all-time circuit record – before crashing after the chequered flag, and will start from seventh tomorrow. Takaaki

Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) will join the factory Ducati rider on the third row. Both Petrucci and Rins will have aspirations of the podium tomorrow, so their opening laps will be important.

Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) qualified tenth for Sunday’s race, ahead of Jerez master Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) and fellow rookie Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who was the slowest rider in Q2 and will start from twelfth tomorrow.

Valentino Rossi was the fastest rider not to make Q2, and so will have to come back from thirteenth tomorrow. If his championship contention – about which so many have spoken since Austin – is serious, the first laps tomorrow will be critical for the Italian, who starts from outside the front four rows for the second time this season. Team HRC’s wildcard, Stefan Bradl, and Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller, who crashed at the end of Q1, will join Rossi on row five.

The Espargaro brothers fill the front two thirds of the sixth row, with Aleix (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) ahead of Pol (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), whilst the latter’s teammate will start from eighteenth.

Bradley Smith, wildcarding for Aprilia Racing Team, rode despite being hurt form a nasty crash in FP2. He will start nineteenth, ahead of the Reale Avintia Racing duo of Tito Rabat and Karel Abraham who complete the seventh row.

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 pairing of Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin were the two slowest riders in Q1 and will start from twenty-second and twenty-third tomorrow. Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) will start from last, depending on his fitness after an FP4 crash saw him taken to hospital. The Italian had a scan which revealed no broken bones.

This weekend, the MotoGP World Championship heads to Jerez, for the first European round of the 2019 season, and the beginning of the ‘ground war’.

The European slog from now until round nine in Sachsenring in July is one of the most important sequences in the entire calendar. Back in 2015, for example, Jorge Lorenzo – then riding for the factory Yamaha squad – took four consecutive wins from Jerez to Barcelona. A further podium in Assen to propel him into contention as then-teammate Valentino Rossi’s main championship rival, despite a below-par opening trio of fly away races for the Spaniard. Of course, Lorenzo went on to win the championship, as is often the way with the victors of the early-season tour through Europe’s classics: Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello, Montmelo, Assen and Sachsenring.

Lorenzo, now riding for the Repsol Honda Team, will have a tough ask to repeat his 2015 feat of victory in Jerez. In fact, his 2015 triumph, on route to his most recent World Championship, is also his most recent success in the Spanish Grand Prix, although he added podiums in 2016 and 2017 when he took his first podium in the red of Ducati. However, as it is at the moment, the improved fitness of Lorenzo (the Spaniard is likely sitting in his best physical condition since the entry to turn one in Aragon on the first lap last September) may not be enough to bring him into the frame for the victory. He is still missing some comfortability with the RC213V, although his recent run of bad luck must come to and end at some point, and Jerez may just be that place.

Of course, perhaps the biggest hurdle standing between Jorge Lorenzo and victory this weekend is the #93 Repsol Honda Team RC213V of reigning World Champion and two-time premier class Spanish Grand Prix winner, including the 2018 edition, Marc Marquez. The seven-times World Champion has been the fastest rider this year in two of the three races: Argentina and Texas. This is expected, as they are two of the Spaniard’s strongest circuits. However, it is almost impossible to ignore the similarities between Marquez’ form coming into this race this year and that of this time last year. With forty-five points and a no-score to his name to this point in 2019, Marquez has almost a complete copy of his form of the opening three races in 2018, although his no-score this year came in Texas, not Argentina. That Texan DNF, though, could be a source of further strength for Marquez, as he looks to bounce back from defeat at a track in which he had previously been invincible. Jerez is a different situation for Marquez, with ‘only’ two premier class wins (2014, 2018), although the #93 has only once finished lower than second at the Grand Prix of his home nation in the MotoGP class, when Valentino Rossi headed a factory Yamaha 1-2 from Jorge Lorenzo in 2016.

A podium of that order in 2019 would be completely unexpected. Marquez has looked incredibly strong so far this season, whilst Lorenzo has struggled to adapt to the Honda and has been hampered by injuries and mechanical faults; and Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) has benefitted from a Yamaha that is improved, but still lacking in horsepower and, crucially, unproven in Jerez.

The Andalusian asphalt has proven tricky to master for the YZR-M1 and its pilots since Rossi’s 2016 victory. Poor traction in low-grip conditions has characterised the performance of the M1 in the past two seasons, but changes over the winter have been well received by Rossi, and there is an air of optimism surrounding Yamaha for this weekend, and a new surface in Jerez could also be of some assistance. However, it will not be proven until Friday whether the 2019 M1 will be able to be competitive at the Spanish Grand Prix, and whether or not Valentino Rossi will be able to fight for the victory.

The issues of Rossi’s Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP teammate, Maverick Vinales, remain the same as ever. Problems in the opening five laps of the race have prevented Vinales from capitalising on his strong late race pace since the middle of 2017 and that has not changed for this year. This came to a head in America, when Vinales jumped the start. He interpreted his penalty to mean a ‘long lap’, but in fact he had a ride through. The criticism Vinales has received as a result of his not knowing the rules is justified, and the reaction of Yamaha to see one of its factory riders being so unprepared must have been quite emphatic. No doubt it will not be a mistake Vinales will make again, but if he is to take this weekend his first premier class podium in the Spanish Grand Prix he will have to find a solution to his early race problems.

It was not only Vinales who jumped the start in COTA, Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) went early, too. Mir claimed a podium or top five was possible. This is arguably an exaggeration, but nonetheless when his teammate is winning the 2017 Moto3 World Champion would not have wanted to ruin his race before it began, and end it outside of the points.

Of course, the teammate doing the winning for the factory Team Suzuki Ecstar was Alex Rins, who took his first victory in the premier class and Suzuki’s first GP win since Vinales won in Silverstone 2016. Having never won a race in Jerez, and with a best result of third (Moto3 2013, Moto2 2016), Rins is perhaps an unlikely candidate to beat Marquez this weekend. However, the characteristics of the Suzuki should match well with those of the long, hanging corners of Jerez, where much time is spent on the side of the tyre and corner speed counts for so much. After all, the most successful riders in Jerez have been Lorenzo, Rossi and Dani Pedrosa – corner speed riders.

That should, in theory, rule Ducati out this weekend. However, Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) was able to fight for the podium last season and, whilst his race was ended in a collision with Lorenzo and Pedrosa at what was Dry Sack and what is now, without any irony at all, Dani Pedrosa Corner. The fight then was between Dovizioso, Lorenzo and Pedrosa for second place, although this year, there seems the possibility that the fight could be for the win, and it could contain many more riders, such as: 2018 pole sitter Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL), Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and perhaps even Dovizioso’s Mission Winnow Ducati teammate Danilo Petrucci.

Featured Image courtesy of Box Repsol

The Circuit of the Americas is not famed for its fantastic ability to produce fantastic racing, nor is it famous for producing memorable races. In fact, the mood in the MotoGP paddock this weekend has been somewhat negative about COTA, primarily because of its surface. However, everybody forgot about the surface come race time for the MotoGP riders.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) didn’t make a great jump from pole. In fact, the best jump off the front row was that of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL), but nonetheless the front three on the grid went into turn one in the same order: Marquez from Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Crutchlow.

Marquez bolted, as you would expect, but Rossi went with him. For one lap Valentino Rossi was able to keep Marquez within striking distance, which around COTA is quite an achievement. However, Marquez’ lead soon grew, and went out to one second, then two, then three, and Rossi’s attention switched to those attacking his position from behind: Crutchlow, Jack Miller (Lamborghini Pramac) and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

Crutchlow looked like he had the pace over Rossi, but the Italian had his YZR-M1 set so it was punching well off the bottom gear corners, and Crutchlow was not able to find a way past. The Brit’s frustration grew, and eventually he crashed in turn eleven, and all hopes of a second podium finish from the opening three races was gone.

Soon after, the unthinkable happened. Whilst the world feed visuals went to a replay, the audio remained with the live feed, and the crowd could be heard. They were in shock.

Marc Marquez had never been beaten at the Circuit of the Americas, he had not lost in America since 2009. But, at the 2019 Grand Prix of the Americas, he folded the front of the Honda RC213V in turn twelve on lap nine, and his incredible run was at an end.

Suddenly, the race for second had become the race for the win. Valentino Rossi led, initially, from Jack Miller, but it was not long before Alex Rins passed the Aussie as the Desmosedici ran wide in turn eleven.

That released the Suzuki, and he closed on Rossi. After spending a few laps stalking his prey, Rins made his move on lap seventeen at turn seven – ironically, the same corner where Marquez made his race-winning overtake on Dani Pedrosa for his first ever MotoGP win back in 2013.

Rossi tried to respond, but running wide in turn eleven with two laps to go was a mistake he could have done without, even despite an all-or-nothing final lap which saw him close almost to within striking range.

Rins held firm, and took his first ever MotoGP win, at a track where nobody can win apart from the reigning champion. A completely unexpected result, and one which saw the Spaniard climb to third in the World Championship standings.

Whilst it was a first win for Rins, it was also a first win for Suzuki since 2016, when Maverick Vinales won at Silverstone. This is important for Suzuki, who have been knocking on the door with Rins for well over half a year, and – crucially – they did it without concessions. Now we wait to see whether the floodgates have opened for Rins and Suzuki.

Once more, Valentino Rossi was thwarted in the closing stages of a race, which seems to have happened quite a lot since his last win in Assen 2017. Nonetheless, the effort put in by The Doctor throughout the race was undoubted, and he was gracious enough to congratulate Rins on his debut win, and admit the Suzuki rider was better on the day. The positives for Rossi are that he had, like in Argentina two weeks ago, tyre left at the end of the race with which he could fight back, as well as now being second in the World Championship, three points off the top.

Jack Miller had been without a podium since his memorable win back in Assen 2016 on the Marc VDS Honda, but he put that streak to an end in Texas with a pretty tough, lonely ride to third. He chose soft tyres on both ends of his Ducati, but the front was too soft. In fact, it was front locking which sent him wide in turn eleven that allowed Rins through. Once he realised he didn’t have the grip to fight with Rossi or Rins for the race win, Miller settled into third, but a charge from Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) kept the Aussie on his toes until the end.

It was a difficult race for Dovizioso, which was always going to be the case after qualifying thirteenth. However, it was not the qualifying, in the end, which kept him from the podium, it was a lack of pace in the beginning of the race. He started well, climbing immediately to sixth, but he soon dropped to seventh behind Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT), and he stayed there for much of the race. He was eventually able to pass his compatriot, but it was too late to get near Miller for the podium. Nonetheless, it is Dovizioso who leads the standings heading into the classic European tracks, with Jerez next up in two weeks.

Morbidelli was able to hang onto fifth place which, at a track he finished last at in 2018, is a solid result for the 2017 Moto2 World Champion. He dropped nine seconds behind Dovizioso once the Ducati got past, but he managed to split the factory Ducatis, coming home three seconds ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati), who will just be glad the weekend is over after a third sixth place in as many races.

Behind Petrucci was Morbidelli’s Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate, Fabio Quartararo who took his best MotoGP finish so far with seventh. Three seconds further back was Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) whose eighth place finish is not as spectacular as his fifth place qualifying, but impressive nonetheless for the Spaniard, who was twelve seconds ahead of his teammate, Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

Francesco Bagnaia (Lamborghini Pramac) took an impressive debut top ten finish with ninth, after his electronics-induced crashes in Q2. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) completed the top ten.

Maverick Vinales’ (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) race was ruined before it began, as he was given a ride through penalty for a jump start. It was more clear than Cal Crutchlow’s in Argentina, and the Spaniard has nothing he can complain about. However, there was some confusion about his penalty, as Vinales took the long lap penalty initially before completing his ride through, so cost himself an extra two or three seconds than he needed. His fight back through the pack had him recover to eleventh, just ahead of Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini).

Johann Zarco came home in thirteenth, just 1.8 seconds ahead of rookie stablemate, Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Miguel Oliveira who was fourteenth. Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) took the final point in fifteenth.

The first non-points-scorer was Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) who was sixteenth, ahead of Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who also had a ride through but could only recover to seventeenth. Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3) was the final classified finisher in eighteenth.

Before Crutchlow and Marquez went down, Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) crashed the factory RSGP. The only other retirement was the third, final-standing factory Honda of Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) whose nightmare top ten drought stretching back to Austria last year will enter its ninth month after a mechanical in Texas put an end to his race.

Featured image courtesy of Box Repsol

The lack of FP3 sessions made FP4 a crucial session for the MotoGP riders ahead of qualifying on Saturday in Texas for round three of the 2019 season.

Electrical storms had brought rain and the threat of lightning to the Circuit of the Americas, but by the mid-point of FP4, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was out on slick tyres. At one point he had five seconds on the field. That gap came down to two seconds by the end of free practice, but going into qualifying he was the outstanding favourite.

Before he and the other Q2 contestants were out on track, though, there was Q1, from which Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) and Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) advanced to Q2, after a late charge from the pair of them which was almost completely unexpected.

This was a disaster for Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati). After making a mistake with the front tyre yesterday in FP2 (the Italian chose the medium front tyre instead of the soft), Dovizioso made another tyre-related error in Q1, deciding to run only one rear tyre for the session. The track improved a lot, though, and in the end it was his teammate, Petrucci, who bumped him out by less than a tenth of a second, much to the disappointment of Davide Tardozzi.

Mostly, Q2 went as expected. Marquez took pole position, although it was clearly not comfortable for the Spaniard. Two tenths was his advantage over Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) in a surprising second place, but Marquez’ Honda made it difficult for the seven times World Champion, weaving in the straight, which according to Marquez was due to the wind. It was clearly quite violent – his foot came off the foot peg and Marquez himself admitted to rolling the throttle, which is obviously not something the #93 makes a habit of. Nonetheless, his 100% record of setting the fastest time in qualifying at Texas goes on.

Rossi’s performance was impressive. In FP4 he was quite strong in the mixed conditions he has tended to struggle with in the past, and in Q2 he was able to latch onto Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) for his first properly hot lap (the first attempt by Rossi was ruined by running wide on the exit of turn nine, which put him off line in turn ten and off the track on the exit), and he marginally improved on that time on his second run. Rossi’s worry on Friday was his race pace, but without the chance to try anything new today with the cancellation of FP3 and the mixed conditions of FP4, the warm up will be important for the Italian to try some changes.

Equally impressive was Cal Crutchlow who qualified third. The Briton has been strong all weekend and has a real chance of the podium tomorrow, so a front row start is important. Also, for Crutchlow, who is without a front row since Assen last year, a clear view of the first corner will be a welcome sight after the disappointment of Argentina.

Jack Miller (Lamborghini Pramac Racing) has had a bit of a special weekend, one similar to that we see from Marc Marquez. When the Honda doesn’t work, Marc makes it work, and that is precisely what Miller has done this weekend with the Ducati. Miller was the only GP19 to make it through to Q2 direct from free practice (the only other Ducati was his Pramac teammate, Pecco Bagnaia), and even when Petrucci joined him in Q2 after advancing from Q1, Miller beat his teammate of 2018 by just under three tenths, which in 2019 MotoGP terms is a significant margin. One of the Australian’s biggest strengths is his ability to grit his teeth and push on regardless of what the bike is saying to him. Considering the pace of his stablemates this weekend, the feedback the Desmosedici is giving him is presumably not so ideal, but the #43 is able to ride around that and make it do what he wants anyway. Whether Miller can do that for forty minutes tomorrow remains to be seen, but a top three is potentially on the cards.

Despite Miller’s ignorance of his bike’s apparent problems, it is Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) who was the star ride of Saturday in the Lone Star State. The Spaniard put the KTM fifth on the grid, KTM’s best MotoGP qualifying, with a lap which was undoubtedly seemed like, twenty evaded crashes knitted together for a time which was only three tenths away from the front row. For Espargaro to put KTM only six tenths away from Marc Marquez on a circuit where he is yet to be beaten is an incredible achievement. To make a similar result tomorrow is unrealistic, but there is no doubt that Pol will make the most of the opportunity he has to compare his RC16 with the front running bikes in the beginning of the race tomorrow and, whatever happens, today has made the weekend for the KTM MotoGP squad.

Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was the rider Espargaro used as a marker for his fifth-placed time. Vinales himself qualified sixth, at the back of the second row. The Spaniard was fast all of yesterday, and was actually the fastest of everyone coming into qualifying, so might be disappointed with a second row start for tomorrow. Either way, the important part for Vinales is the start and the first laps, because he needs to be strong at the start so he can use his strong late race pace.

It was a better qualifying for Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) compared to two weeks ago, improving nine places on his Argentinian grid slot with seventh place. The Spaniard has been quite quiet this weekend, not making anything spectacular, but he should be there in the race fighting for the podium.

Joining Rins on the third row of the grid are Petrucci and Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), the rookie impressing again on the satellite Yamaha, out-qualifying teammate Franco Morbidelli by three tenths.

After a good run in Q1, Jorge Lorenzo’s Q2 session was compromised at the end of his first flying lap when he suffered the same problem of a chain coming off his RC213V as Marquez suffered in FP4 back in Argentina. Lorenzo parked the #99 RC213V up at the end of pit lane (mimicking Marquez in 2015) and ran back to the Repsol Honda box for his spare bike, but could only manage eleventh from there.

Last in Q2 was Francesco Bagnaia, who crashed both his GP18 Ducatis, and ended the session frustrated and two seconds off the pace having only clocked one semi-representative lap time.

As previously mentioned, Andrea Dovizioso failed to make it out of Q1, and the second-placed rider in the World Championship will start tomorrow’s race from a lowly thirteenth. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU LCR Honda) will join the Italian on row five tomorrow.

Row six sees Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) in sixteenth ahead of teammate Andrea Iannone and the impressive Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) who once again out-qualified Johann Zarco (19th) on the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing RC16.

Joining Zarco on row seven tomorrow will be Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3), whilst Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) will line up alone on the back row.

Featured Image courtesy of Box Repsol

The Circuit of the Americas awaits the MotoGP field this weekend, two weeks on from Marc Marquez’ (Repsol Honda Team) dominance of the Argentinian round of the series.

For round three, the result will likely be little different. Marquez is unbeaten in COTA, and indeed on American soil since 2010. This weekend could see the seven-times champion more dominant than ever, at his best track with the best motor Honda has produced since 2014 in the premier class, and no one seemingly in a position to challenge him.

Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) of course shares machinery with Marquez, since they both operate out of the same garage. However, the condition of Lorenzo’s scaphoid has potential to restrict his potential this weekend, as the plethora of hard braking points at COTA mean a lot of stress is put through the arms and indeed the wrists of the rider. Any weakness in this area can be exaggerated in Texas, and the direction changes of the first sector exacerbate this even further. In addition to this, Lorenzo’s record in Austin includes only two podiums, the most recent coming back in 2016.

That 2016 race showed a contrast in fortunes for Lorenzo compared to the two riders who two weeks ago fought for second place pretty much from lights to flag. Three years ago, neither Andrea Dovizioso nor Valentino Rossi finished the race, with Dovizioso being collected by Dani Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda and Rossi crashing out early in the race at turn two, after burning his clutch out on the start.

However, both Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) have decent records in Texas, with two podiums each – Rossi’s coming in 2015 and 2017, and Dovizioso’s coming in 2014 and 2015.

Yamaha have had good results in the last few years in Texas. In fact, apart from 2014, a Yamaha has finished on the podium each year, with Lorenzo (2013, 2016) and Maverick Vinales (2018) adding to Rossi’s aforementioned Texan rostrum appearances. There will be three critical points for Yamaha, this year, in theory, at least. Firstly, it will be important for them to manage the front tyre well, which they failed to do in 2014. Secondly, Yamaha will need to accelerate off the corners well and find perfect traction, as their lack of power will be highlighted on COTA’s series of long straights and hard accelerations. Thirdly, Yamaha will need to find a setup that allows their riders to be strong on the brakes, as the time they lose on the straight will have to be made up getting off it.

The Ducati has struggled in recent years at COTA, Dovizioso languishing in sixth in 2017, and fifth last year. However, the improvements made by Ducati over the winter have the #04 in line for a better result this year.

Critically, the Ducati no longer seems dependent on grip for it to be fast. Termas is a famously slippery, dirty track, with a narrow line, and yet Dovizioso was able to fight for second place for the whole race.

This will be important in COTA, because once more the track has been shaved, like last year, and the condition of the track is questionable, with bumps, holes and cracks still noticeable on the surface. Fortunately, with IndyCar having a race a couple of weeks ago, there shouldn’t be the huge roosts we saw last year, as the Dallara-built single-seaters should have cleaned any rubbish left over from the shaving that was lingering between the stones.

Several other riders could be in contention for the podium in Texas this year, including Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), whose then-teammate Andrea Iannone took third place last year on the GSX-RR. Between last year’s victory Marquez and third placed Iannone was Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who should have also finished second in 2017, but crashed early on, and won his first Moto2 race at COTA in 2014. Additionally, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) – who had the pace for a clear second place in Argentina – could be well placed to take his second rostrum of the year this weekend.

Featured image of Marc Marquez courtesy of Box Repsol

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) entered the race for the 2019 MotoGP Argentinian Grand Prix as the clear favourite. The race saw him claim his third win in Termas, as well as the championship lead.

Marquez’ race was a strange one for him. He led from lights to flag, making the holeshot and did not see another rider before the chequered flag. By the end of lap one the Spaniard was already one second clear, and his advantage extended as far as twelve seconds, eventually winning by 9.8 seconds after slowing down to celebrate as he crossed the finish line. The reigning champion’s pace was stunning, and almost every lap was faster than the best lap time of any of his competitors.

That rule, however, excepted Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) whose race was over before it began, as he received a ride through penalty for a jump start. The validity of the penalty is arguable, to say the least, but looking retrospectively at Crutchlow’s pace it is impossible to debate that the trip through pit lane cost the Briton his second podium of the season.

Instead, the podium battle was fought between Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati), Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) and eventually Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

Initially, it was Dovizioso in second from Miller, the two Ducati riders able to use the power of the Desmosedici to repel any attacks from the more nimble Yamahas of Rossi, Vinales and Morbidelli.

Eventually, however, Rossi broke through Miller, and set about Dovizioso, who ultimately proved a tougher task for The Doctor.

Behind, Morbidelli was engaging in strongly contested battles with both Miller and Petrucci, which lasted for most of the second half of the race.
Maverick Vinales no doubt would have been involved in these fights from the outset, too, but a mistake in the middle of the race in turn five cost him a couple of seconds and a position to Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU). Vinales recovered the position from Nakagami, but only got back to Miller, Morbidelli and Petrucci by the time Alex Rins had arrived, and Dovizioso had escaped to have a private battle with Rossi for the final two podium spots.

That battle went down to the wire. Rossi passed Dovizioso a couple of times in turn thirteen, but the GP19 simply powered back by on the pit straight. The nine-times World Champion thought he would have a better pace than Dovizioso, however when he realised this was not the case, he let the #04 take point and chose to study his rival.

It always looked as though Rossi would make his final push for P2 in turn thirteen, he seemed to be sizing up Dovizioso into there on every lap, but the factory Ducati man was covering the line well on the entry. In the end, it was at turn seven that Rossi made his move on the final lap, with a neat out-braking manoeuvre on the inside of his compatriot. The move took away Dovizioso’s line sufficiently that he was unable to respond, as well, and Rossi was able to make a gap to the Desmosedici big enough to prevent an attack from his fellow Italian.

Second place for Rossi marked his first podium since Sachsenring last year, the factory Yamaha team’s first since Vinales’ win in Phillip Island, and Yamaha’s first podium as a factory since Johann Zarco finished second on the Tech3 Yamaha in Malaysia last season.

For the championship, Rossi’s defeat of Dovizioso was important too, as it meant that Marquez now leads the championship out-right by four points from Dovizioso. However, the #04 was content with the podium, as in the past couple of seasons the Ducati had not enjoyed Termas, and with Marquez being so strong in Argentina the damage limitation was somewhat successful for the Italian. Of course, with Texas next up on the calendar, damage limitation is a mindset Dovizioso will have to maintain.

The battle for fourth ended up being extremely closely fought, in the end by Jack Miller and Alex Rins, with the Australian coming out on top. Miller had looked to be riding quite aggressively throughout the race, but he still managed to save a lot of tyre for the end. It had initially looked like Rins would be able to break away in fourth and chase after the squabbling Italians ahead, but Miller fought back on the penultimate lap, and held Rins at bay for the closing two tours.

Alex Rins had looked strong on the race pace all weekend. In the two sessions where riders work exclusively on race pace: FP4 and warm up, Rins had featured towards the top of the times. His qualifying made things difficult, but from mid-race onwards it was clear he had the chance to fight for the podium. The move from Miller with two to go ended his hopes of that, but sixteenth to fifth is a stunning fight back from the Spaniard.

Sixth place went to Danilo Petrucci. He came under fire on the final lap from Maverick Vinales, but the Spaniard crashed with Franco Morbidelli on the final lap. Morbidelli seemed to be taking a normal line, but Vinales seemed to stop the bike on the apex to try and square off Petrucci, and the Petronas Yamaha rider piled straight into the back of the Spaniard. There was no anger from Vinales, however. In fact, the Spaniard checked on his Yamaha stablemate to see if he was okay. Furthermore, as trivial and ridiculous as it sounds, the public declaration on Instagram by Vinales that it was a ‘racing incident’ shows how the Spaniard viewed the crash which ended his race.

For Petrucci, though, the race represented a strong turnaround. Sixth might not seem so spectacular for a factory Ducati rider, especially when he was the last of the GP19s to cross the line, but after a poor weekend and disastrous qualifying he showed good resolve to fight for a top five and end up with a top six. In Qatar, the #9 rider had a great weekend and a poor race, but in Argentina he reversed that, somewhat. For the next races he needs to find the middle ground.

The double retirement of Vinales and Morbidelli promoted Nakagami to seventh, a position he deserved after what had been a stellar weekend for the Japanese, on in which he had been very strong and looked like a completely different rider on the RC213V.

Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) may not have had the stand out weekend he had in Qatar, but he took his first MotoGP points and first premier class top ten with eighth spot, and finished five seconds ahead of the duelling Espargaro brothers who finished ninth and tenth, Aleix (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) ahead of Pol (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) by just under four tenths over the line.

Eleventh place went to Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) who also scored his first MotoGP points, and came home as second KTM, only two tenths behind factory rider Pol Espargaro. An incredibly impressive result for the rookie.

1.6 seconds behind rookie Miguel Oliveira was Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) who finished twelfth after having a problem on the start which dropped him to twenty-first. A couple more laps and Lorenzo would have been thirteenth, as Cal Crutchlow crossed the line only four seconds back of Lorenzo after the Brit’s ride through.

In fourteenth, it was Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing), who also scored his first MotoGP points after a pretty quiet weekend for the reigning Moto2 World Champion. Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) took the final point in fifteenth.

Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3) had a much better weekend aboard the RC16 this weekend, and came home sixteenth, only two seconds behind Zarco, and just under three seconds ahead of Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who had a nightmare weekend, finishing seventeenth and last of the finishers.

There were five retirements: the Reale Avintia Racing pairing of Karel Abraham and Tito Rabat went down within a lap of each other, whilst Joan Mir retired the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR in the pit lane with four laps to go, before Morbidelli and Vinales crashed out on the final lap.

After looking strong throughout free practice, it was Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) who was the favourite to take pole position in Argentina ahead of the second round of the MotoGP World Championship, and so it was.

The reigning World Champion and the nine others who advanced directly to Q2 from free practice were joined in the pole position shootout by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

Marquez led the field after the opening runs of Q2, and had Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) directly behind him. But it was in the second runs that the pace of Marquez’ competitors really ramped up.

Whilst everyone was in pit lane, preparing their second and final runs, Marquez went out to make a second, middle, run. It didn’t go to plan. He ran too hot into turn one, lost the front on the bumps and had to abort the lap. Fortunately, his plan was to make three runs anyway, so he had time to come back to the pits for another tyre.

He got back to pit lane just as everyone else was leaving for their second runs.

The first laps of all Marquez’ competitors on their second runs were electric, everyone setting red sectors throughout the lap, lighting up the time screen. After the barrage was complete, Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) surprisingly emerged as the provisional pole sitter from Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP).

However, on the first lap of his third run, Marquez reclaimed pole position by just over a tenth, ensuring he maintains his 100% pole position record at Termas in dry qualifying sessions. It is unlikely to end there for Marquez, though. His race pace seems a cut above everyone else, seemingly able to lap in the low to mid-1’39s with relative ease, whilst everyone else seems stranded in the mid to high-39s at best.

This is with the possible exception of Cal Crutchlow, but with the Briton blowing his final qualifying lap and having to start now from eighth on the grid, the odds are stacked even higher against the LCR Honda rider.

Maverick Vinales has been almost completely under the radar this weekend, finishing FP1 in eighteenth, and never really doing anything particularly spectacular – that is, until his lap to go provisional pole. He was unable to convert pole position to a good result in Qatar, so it will be interesting to see what he can do from the middle of the front row tomorrow, and whether he can fight for the podium.

With Marquez seemingly out of reach for the rest of the field, it could be a battle for second, and Andrea Dovizioso will be all too keen to win that battle in his quest to limit the damage Marquez can do to him in the championship at this track. From third on the grid, Dovizioso has a good opportunity to make use of his Ducati’s ‘holeshot device’, and try to hold Marquez up as much as he can. Failing that, the Italian must try everything to maintain second place, and the front row is almost the best place to start that defence.

After fourteenth place in qualifying for the season opener in Qatar, Valentino Rossi will probably be quite content with fourth on the grid. The Italian’s pace looks quite strong and could be in that podium fight, but the question – as always – will be about whether he can hold onto that rear tyre until the end.

The middle of row two will be occupied by Jack Miller, who might be a little disappointed to miss the front row. However, he has been fast all weekend, and to start in the front two rows is certainly not a bad thing. Another potential podium contender, and another potential missile on the run to turn one with the GP19’s ‘holeshot device’.

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) ensures Miller sits in the middle of an Italian sandwich tomorrow. Tyre wear was the issue for the 2017 Moto2 World Champion in Qatar, so the second half of the race will be particularly interesting from Morbidelli’s point of view, as well as his tyre choice.

Morbidelli’s Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate, Fabio Quartararo, will start seventh tomorrow for his second ever MotoGP. As in Qatar the Frenchman has been fast all weekend, and is another who might interfere in that podium scrap in the first half of the race, although the youngster has himself acknowledged that it will take a little longer until he has understood completely how to make a strong race pace for the full distance. Joining the #20 on the third row are the LCR pairing of Crutchlow and Nakagami.

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) has had a nightmare weekend in Argentina. A dreadful Friday was followed up by an improved performance in FP3 which saw him advance directly to Q2, but his frustration was visible in qualifying when he qualified only tenth on the factory Ducati. Alongside Petrucci are Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team), the #99 still trying to work out how to get the RC213V to work well for him.

The fastest rider to not make Q2 was Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who qualified thirteenth, and will be joined on row five by the impressive rookie Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing).

Qualifying was a disaster for both Suzuki Ecstar riders, with Alex Rins qualifying only sixteenth and Joan Mir only nineteenth. Team manager Davide Brivio is confident in their race pace, but it is going to be a big task for the two Spanish riders to fight back from their lowly grid slots tomorrow.

Between Rins and Mir are Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), the Frenchman in particular having looked much more comfortable on the KTM this weekend, although missing the ultimate lap time over one lap still, it seems.

The two riders joining Mir on row seven are Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and alone at the back on row eight is Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who qualified twenty-second and last.

Featured Image courtesy of Box Repsol

The second round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship takes place this weekend in Argentina, at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit.

Termas has had a habit of throwing up controversy since it made its debut on the MotoGP calendar back in 2014 – it has seen Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez clash twice, with opposite results, in 2015 and 2018; Scott Redding blow a rear Michelin in 2016 which caused a pit stop in the middle of the race and Michelin to completely change their design philosophy for the rest of the 2016 season and Danilo Petrucci ride unpenalized into the side of Aleix Espargaro last season.

This year, though, the controversy began three weeks ago in Qatar at the opening round. Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) won from Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) in another of their last lap scraps, again being decided in the final corner. Dovizioso had been using Ducati’s new aerodynamic device which attaches to the swing arm, claimed by Ducati to cool the tyre. Aprilia, KTM, Honda and Suzuki all protested the result to the Race Direction on Sunday night after the race, but it was thrown out. They then put it to the MotoGP court of appeal, which made their decision this week, a decision which ruled the Ducati to be legal, and the result to stand. With the result of the previous race being decided so close to this weekend’s round, it is sure to be a big talking point in the paddock, and it shouldn’t be long until the other factories have their own versions of Ducati’s swing arm device.

In fact, for Ducati this weekend promises to be an interesting one, regardless of appeals and protests by their rivals, as a Desmosedici has not visited parc ferme in Termas since Eugene Laverty took fourth place and top ‘independent’ for Aspar in 2016. Furthermore, Ducati haven’t had a podium in Argentina since 2015 with Dovizioso, although they should of course have had a double rostrum in 2016. The last two years have been particularly disappointing for the Italian marque in Argentina. In 2017, Dovizioso struggled for pace all weekend and in the end was taken out by Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia as the Spaniard was avoiding Danilo Petrucci and lost the front; and last year Dovizioso could manage only sixth place in the mixed conditions. Having started once more with a victory, Dovizioso will be keen to back it up with another strong result this weekend in South America.

This will be especially important for Dovizioso’s title ambitions, as Argentina is one of Marc Marquez’ strongest GPs. Of the five races run in Argentina since 2014, Marquez has won two, and taken four poles. His win count would be higher, but for his catalogue of errors last year which resulted in a thirty-second penalty and no points for the Spaniard. Marquez has always shown strongly, though, in Termas, and it is difficult to see past him this weekend, especially with rain expected.

Whilst Argentina has traditionally been strong for Marquez, the same cannot be said for his Repsol Honda Team teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, who has not found the podium in Argentina since 2014 and hasn’t scored a point there since 2015 when he finished fifth. Still suffering with his scaphoid and likely still feeling some effects from the injuries he picked up from his high side in Qatar FP3, this weekend could be another tough one for the Spaniard.

After Marquez, the most successful MotoGP rider in Termas de Rio Hondo is Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). The Italian took a dramatic win in 2015, and made the podium on two more occasions, in 2016 and 2017. Last year, however, was a disastrous race for the Italian, even before the contact with Marquez he lacked pace and was lapping in eighth place – the fact that Marquez took a ride through penalty in the beginning of the race and still caught Rossi with several laps to go says a lot about both Marquez’ and Rossi’s pace at the 2018 Argentinian GP. Losail was also a disappointment for Rossi. At a track where both he and Yamaha traditionally excel, he qualified fourteenth and finished fifth, leaving him suggesting that in reality nothing much has really changed in the factory Yamaha camp over the winter. Rossi is still without a podium since Sachsenring last season and, despite a disappointing opening round of the season and difficult ace in Termas last year, his record at the Argentinian track suggests this could be his best opportunity to return to the rostrum before the paddock heads back to Europe.

With Maverick Vinales alongside Rossi in the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP garage, the factory Yamaha box is the only garage on the pit lane with two winners at Termas in the premier class. Vinales’ 2017 win feels like a long time ago, and whilst practice and qualifying in Losail three weeks ago implied that the Maverick of early 2017 was back, the race proved otherwise, as he slumped to seventh place after qualifying on pole.

Both Rossi and Vinales were hurt in Losail by the YZR-M1’s lack of top speed, and that is likely to hurt them again this weekend, with the long straight down to turn five. What Termas does not have that Losail did, though, is a long run to the (start/finish) line, and that could present an opportunity for the Yamaha riders.

Argentina was the scene of Alex Rins’ (Team Suzuki Ecstar) first MotoGP podium twelve months ago, and after a strong winter and impressive ride in Qatar where he took fourth place, the Spaniard will be after his first win in the premier class this time around.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) took a spectacular win in Termas last year, fighting in a four-way scrap with Miller, Rins and Johann Zarco for the duration of the race. It was Crutchlow’s third triumph in the premier class, and after a heroic podium in Qatar – after missing some feeling with the bike through preseason, a preseason hampered by the catastrophic ankle injury he sustained in Australia last October – the Briton will no doubt be after the rostrum once more this weekend, at the circuit which he took his first podium on Honda, when he stuffed Andrea Iannone back in 2015 in the final corner.

Featured image courtesy of Box Repsol.