The first British Superbike Championship qualifying session of 2019 got underway in vastly contrasting conditions to the corresponding session of 2018, with glorious sunshine baking the Northamptonshire asphalt.
Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) claimed his first ever BSB pole in what was a McAMS Yamaha 1-2, with teammate Jason O’Halloran taking second. Both riders have looked evenly matched throughout the weekend and so it was not a surprise to see the pair heading up the grid, although that no doubt did not detract from the delight of both riders and team.
? NEWS: McAMS Yamaha go 1-2 in qualifying at Silverstone
Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati) took his first BSB front row in his first BSB qualifying with his first competitive outing on the brand new Ducati Panigale V4R. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the multiple Grand Prix winner was aiming for pole position, but will be content enough with a front row. We have seen in WorldSBK that the V4R is able to save the tyre quite well, so if Redding can make a good start and have a clean race, the #45 could present a large threat in the closing stages.
Perhaps the star of this first BSB qualifying of the season was Josh Elliott (OMG Racing Suzuki) who set the fourth-fastest time in the first qualifying of his first full season of BSB. The 2015 National Superstock 1000 champion is joined on row two by his OMG Racing Suzuki teammate Luke Mossey and the third Yamaha of Dan Linfoot (Santander Salt TAG Yamaha).
Heading up row three tomorrow will be Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing). Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW Motorrad) is the top BMW on the grid in eighth, whilst BSB rookie Luke Stapleford impressively starts ninth tomorrow on his debut for Buildbase Suzuki.
The first rider to not make Q2 was Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing), who will start eleventh tomorrow, ahead of his Honda Racing teammate Xavi Fores and the impressive rookie, Claudio Corti (Team WD40) who was the top Kawasaki in twelfth.
Three ZX-10RRs follow Corti and make up row five, with Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki) an impressive thirteenth on his BSB debut, ahead of Danny Buchan (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) and Glenn Irwin (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki).
As Buchan and Irwin will be disappointed with their respective fourteenth and fifteenth places, Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) will be disappointed with his sixteenth place. David Allingham (EHA Yamaha) lines up seventeenth tomorrow, whilst Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati) was limited to eighteenth thanks to a mechanical problem in Q1.
Ben Currie (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) qualified nineteenth on his BSB debut, missing out on Q2 by just 0.007 seconds. The BMWs of Keith Farmer (Tyco BMW Motorrad) and Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing) complete the seventh row.
Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Ducati), together with Matt Truelove (Raceways Yamaha) and Joe Francis (Lloyd and Jones Bowker Motorrad) make up row eight; Shaun Winfield (Santander Salt TAG Yamaha) heads up James Ellison (Smiths Racing) – who like Brookes suffered a mechanical in Q1 – and Dean Harrison (Silicone Engineering Racing) on the ninth row.
Fraser Rogers (Gearlink Kawasaki) will start twenty-eighth tomorrow, ahead of Dean Hipwell (CDH Racing) and James Hillier (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) on row ten; and the final two spots on the grid on row eleven will be taken up by Sam Coventry (Team 64 Motorsports) in thirty-first and Conor Cummins (Milenco by Padgetts Motorcycles) in thirty-second.
After a long winter break, the British Superbike Championship returns this weekend for the opening round of the 2019 season at Silverstone.
The 2018 round at the Northamptonshire track saw the national layout used, following the MotoGP fiasco a couple of weeks prior. The results were fantastic, as the racing was close and action-packed. Additionally, it is easy for a national championship to make a facility the size of Silverstone seem empty, even with a solid attendance, because certain grandstands will be shut off, and often the races can become quite spread out on a 3.6-mile circuit. The national layout combated both of those issues, although that was not the intention, with the shorter layout seeing big groups fight for the lead for the whole race, and the smaller area making the atmosphere more tangible from the television perspective.
The Silverstone National track layout left going down Wellington Straight. Image courtesy of Tom McKay/Wikipedia
The positive feedback of Silverstone’s round last year prompted the Championship to run the shorter circuit this year as well, and as such the series will likely be off to a thrilling start.
Last year’s races saw Leon Haslam claim both victories, but with both the reigning BSB champion and Jake Dixon, last year’s runner up, having moved on, there is expected to be a shake up this year, with yet more young riders coming through and big names from the World Championship arriving to mix it up with the more established names in the British championship.
Of course, one of the biggest talking points this year in the World Superbike Championship has been the domination of, in the hands of Alvaro Bautista, the new Ducati Panigale V4R. Ahead of the start of the BSB season, there is some anticipation about the performance of the new Ducati in the hands of Scott Redding, his BeWiser Ducati teammate and 2015 BSB champion Josh Brookes, as well as Tommy Bridewell (Oxford MotoRapido). The main advantage of the new Panigale is its motor, and in WorldSBK it seems that Bautista has been able to extract the maximum from the V4R’s strongest point. It will be interesting to see if any of the Ducati riders in the British series are able to do something similar, although with the lack of any real straights in British tracks, the likelihood of that is small.
Nonetheless, it is going to be interesting to see how the bike performs, and also how its pilots perform. Scott Redding is perhaps the most highly anticipated rider in BSB this year, having come from Grand Prix where he was many times a winner, many times a podium finisher and once a championship challenger. From his fairly active social media accounts, it seems Redding is looking forward to this season, and that it probably not something he has felt for a few years. Certainly, the ex-MotoGP star will be both expecting and expected to fight for the championship this year, despite his lack of knowledge of the British tracks, of Pirelli tyres and of derivative racing in general.
His teammate, Josh Brookes, however, has none of the ‘excuses’ – if that’s what you’d like to call them – that Redding has for this year. A veteran of the BSB paddock, and the 2015 champion, Brookes is sure to be a favourite this year, especially with such a strong package. Perhaps it is also worth remembering that Brookes’ title winning year was also the racing debut year of the current model Yamaha R1, much as 2019 is the debut of the Panigale V4R.
Tommy Bridewell. Image courtesy of Ducati
For the third Ducati rider this year, Tommy Bridewell, there is a sense of opportunity in 2019. Having gelled so well with the V-twin Panigale in the second half of last season, it was no surprise to see the #46 retained by the MotoRapido squad for 2019, and both he and the team will be hoping that the relationship with the new V4R will be as smooth and fruitful as the short-lived partnership between Bridewell and the V-twin at the end of last year.
In all likelihood, the V4R will not be as dominant in BSB as it has been to this point in the World Championship. The regulations in BSB have so far worked perfectly since their introduction, allowing all makes and models of Superbike to be competitive on the national scene in Britain. It would therefore be a shock to see Ducati make off with this championship as they are doing on the world stage. As well as the Borgo Panigale machines, Yamaha, Honda, BMW, Suzuki and Kawasaki should all be there fighting for race wins as well.
Yamaha, with Tarran Mackenzie and Jason O’Halloran at the McAMS Yamaha outfit, and with Dan Linfoot at the TAG Racing squad, will be hoping to reclaim the championship they last won in 2015 with Brookes. Seeing the R1 so strong in the World Championship so far in 2019 must fill the BSB riders with a lot of confidence about their chances for this season.
Despite being in only his second season of BSB, Mackenzie will be heading to Silverstone this weekend in search of the first win he so nearly clinched at the same track last year, and from there will hope to fight all the way for the title. Similarly, his teammate O’Halloran, and their stablemate Linfoot, are brand new to Yamaha this year, but will be after results from the beginning.
There are also two new faces in Honda for this season, with Andrew Irwin being joined by multiple WSBK podium finisher Xavi Fores in the factory Honda squad. Irwin made a superb adaptation to Superbike last year after his mid-season call up to the PBM Ducati squad to replace the injured Shane Byrne. That earned him the Honda ride, and he will certainly be one to watch out for this year.
Fores, on the other hand, has a similar situation to Redding. The Spaniard has zero knowledge of British tracks ahead of this season, and so will be learning every time he goes out on track. However, unlike Redding, he doesn’t have 240hp.
The new BMW this year has proven a hit on the world stage, both factory BMW riders in WSBK, Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger, praising the chassis of the new S1000RR. What it has in the corners, however, it certainly loses in the straights. Whilst that might not be such a problem at most British circuits, at the most wide-open track of the year – which, whilst the Hangar straight is missing, is still very fast – a lack of power is likely to be the biggest hindrance this weekend.
Those riders who were able to make the old S1000RR work so well in the past – mostly Peter Hickman (Smith’s Racing) – will be hoping they can make the new bike work in a similar way, but with such a difference in bike characteristic there will undoubtedly be some adapting to do this year. This adaptation process will carry on through much of the season, too, since neither Smith’s nor TAS Racing received their new BMWs in time for the official BSB tests in Spain, so only had the Silverstone test last week to start work on their new machines.
For the third BMW team, PR Racing, and their rider Joe Francis, this process is delayed even further as their new bike will not be race-ready until round two at Oulton Park, and so the Liverpool-based team will be running the old-spec bike at round one this weekend.
Bradley Ray at 2019 BSB testing for Buildbase Suzuki. Image courtesy of Suzuki Racing
Suzuki once more will be pinning their hopes on Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki). The Milkybar Kid has certainly impressed the factory bosses; two wins and a further podium in the first two rounds of last season were followed by an impressive performance at the Suzuka 8 Hour last summer, and in February Ray got his first taste of MotoGP with the GSX-RR in Sepang.
Whether Ray will be able to return to the form that impressed so much at the start of last season, but faded through the rest of the year, remains to be seen, but should the #28 be able to maintain form like that throughout the thirteen rounds he could be a real problem for his rivals.
Kawasaki won their first BSB crown since Shane Byrne in 2014, last year, but with Leon Haslam having moved up to the World Championship the pressure now lies with, primarily, Glenn Irwin (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) and Danny Buchan (FS-3 Kawasaki) to retain that title. Irwin’s teammate, Ben Currie (Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki) will also be looking to make his mark this year on the top class as he moves up from Supersport for his first season on a Superbike.
Featured Image courtesy of Dutch Photo Agency/Red Bull Content Pool
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.
The expectation whilst waiting for the race to commence was that Marc Marquez(above) would reign supreme. Image courtesy of Box Repsol
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).
Marc Marquez with a sizeable gap from Valentino Rossi and the rest of the field at the 2019 MotoGP Americas GP race. Image courtesy of Box Repsol
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.
Valentino Rossi with the race lead after Marc crashed. But Alex Rins was waiting to pounce upon Valentino at the 2019 MotoGP AmericasGP. Image courtesy of Yamaha Corporation
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.
Alex Rins, taking the lead of the 2019 Americas MotoGP race. Image courtesy of Suzuki Racing
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.
Andrea Dovizioso finishing 4th at the MotoGP of the Americas 2019. Image courtesy of Ducati
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 with a disappoint 2019 MotoGP AmericasGP. Image courtesy Yamaha Corporation
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.
After taking his second pole position of the season in Texas, and generally dominating the Moto2 weekend in the Lone Star State, Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt IntactGP) was the favourite to take his first Moto2 win in Sunday’s race.
The German made it to turn one first, but ran wide, allowing Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) into the lead and fellow Dynavolt IntactGP rider, Tom Luthi into second place.
Marcel Schrotter leading the Moto2 GP into Turn One. |Image courtesy of ImpactGP
There was also a reasonable gap between the two Dynavolt bikes, however when Luthi engaged Marquez in an initial battle for the lead, the German was able to close in.
Luthi’s first attempt to go for the lead was a failure, as Marquez was able to resist the Swiss’ assault. A few laps later, though, and as Schrotter had fallen back once more, Luthi made a second attempt to take the lead away from Marquez, and this time it worked. Luthi passed Marquez on the inside at turn twelve, forced the Spaniard out a little wide and thus prevented him from mounting a counter-attack.
From there, Luthi went unchallenged. Even when Schrotter was finally able to pass Marquez for second, he was unable to close the gap to his teammate.
Instead of for the lead, the main battle that was developing now on track was that for fourth place, as Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) was falling back towards Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), and Mattia Pasini (Flexbox HP 40) was not too far behind either, having surpassed fellow Italian veteran Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) for seventh.
The gap between Navarro and Marini behind Lowes swung back and forth throughout the race, as Marini’s strong pace was intervened by series of small mistakes. But, ultimately, the pair of them were closing down on Lowes’ fourth place.
Once Navarro was able to pass Lowes, Marini soon followed suit, recognising the strong pace the Spaniard was showing, and the Speed Up rider was closing on Alex Marquez for third. Marini managed to go with Navarro and join the battle for the final podium position.
Before long, Mattia Pasini had passed Lowes to join in the fight, too, as Navarro and Marini struggled to make a pass stick on Marquez.
Eventually, Navarro was able to pass Marquez, and a few mistakes from Marini – some induced by gearbox issues that had plagued many riders throughout the weekend – allowed the #9 to break away and consolidate his third place.
The mistakes of Marini had allowed Pasini to pass, and set on after Marquez. Soon the Italian was through, and Marquez was back in the clutches of Marini, although the #10 ran out of time to make his move.
Tom Luthi winner of the 2019 Moto2 Americas GP. Image courtesy of Dynavolt IntactGP
All of this was happening nearly five seconds behind the dominant winner, Luthi, who took his first win of his Moto2 return, and became the first rider to win a Moto2 race the year after being dropped from MotoGP since 2010, when Tony Elias, Alex De Angelis and Yuki Takahashi all took wins. Despite his DNF in round two at Argentina, Luthi now lies just five points behind the championship leader.
Second in the Texan race and now second in the World Championship standings is Marcel Schrotter, who will be content enough with his second podium from three races, but the frustration will be there having missed out on what was looking to be a nailed on win for the German.
An impressive first podium in Moto2 for Jorge Navarro came at just the right time for the Spaniard. Two years of relatively poor performances compared to what was expected of the multiple Grand Prix winner mean that this season is somewhat ‘make or break’ for him. To now go into the European season – which begins in two weeks in Jerez – off the back of his first intermediate class rostrum should be a good confidence boost for the Speed Up rider.
Having not ridden a Triumph Moto2 bike before this weekend, the speed Mattia Pasini showed in practice was quite remarkable. Moreover, his late race pace having not ridden a Grand Prix since last November was similarly remarkable, and his emotion at taking this fourth place when he arrived back in the garage after the race was understandable. It is a shame that Pasini is currently ambulance chasing, but hopefully sooner rather than later we will see the #54 back on the grid on a permanent basis.
Fifth place was where Alex Marquez ended up, nearly eight seconds behind the lead he once held. Once more, it was a disappointing late-race performance after a decent start from the Spaniard, a trend which has characterised his races over the past year. Jerez is next up, and he needs to change this trend at his home Grand Prix.
Sixth place went to the sixth-placed rider in the standings, Luca Marini. For a man who is still suffering some after-effects from his shoulder surgery at the end of last year, it is probably quite positive that he can be severely disappointed with a sixth place. He had his first podium of the year in sight at one stage, but the aforementioned mistakes let that get away. Despite being over twenty points behind now in the World Championship, Marini will be confident of a turnaround as the championship heads into its European segment in two weeks.
Sam Lowes ended up seventh. He pushed on hard at the end, the group fighting ahead giving him confidence he could bridge the gap that had grown to the battle for the top five. However, he could not make enough of an impression, and the Brit now lies thirty-one points behind in the championship standings.
Simone Corsi came home in eighth, unable to go with Pasini once the Pons rider went through. Just under two seconds behind Corsi was Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) who once more took top rookie honours in ninth, and finished over six seconds ahead of his Italtrans teammate, Andrea Locatelli, who rounded out the top ten.
A difficult qualifying made for a tough race for Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) who finished eleventh. The Aussie finished three tenths clear of his Stop and Go teammate, Tetsuta Nagashima in twelfth; then came Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP), Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) who scored MV’s first GP points in forty-two years; and finally Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) who was the first KTM home and rounded out the points.
Philipp Ottel, Moto2, Grand Prix of the Americas 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
Sixteenth went to Jesko Raffin (NTS RW Racing GP), ahead of Khairul Idham Pawi (Petronas Sprinta Racing), Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing), Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), Stefano Manzi’s replacement at MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward, Gabriele Ruiu, and finally Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) who was the twenty-second and final finisher.
There were four retirements on the first lap alone. As usual in COTA, there was some mayhem at turn one, as Joe Roberts (American Racing) got into Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) with the pair then collecting Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), taking all three of them out of the race. Then, Jorge Martin had a moment on the throttle on the exit of turn nine, and championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) had nowhere to go but into the back of the Spaniard, and down he went. Such was his performance in the first two races, Baldassarri keeps hold of his championship lead by three points from Schrotter.
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was the next to retire with a mechanical, and then Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) dropped out. The best weekend of Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in Moto2 ended with a crash six laps from the flag in turn one. Ike Lecuona (American Racing) was the final retirement, five laps from the end.
The Moto3 races in the Circuit of the Americas are often different from the rest. The circuit is so long, technical and demanding of both rider and bike that usually over race distance a few riders will be able to distance themselves from the rest of the field.
Raul Fernandez, Moto3 race, Grand Prix of the Americas 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
From pole position, Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) failed to make the holeshot, as that honour went to reigning Junior World Champion Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team). However, it was not long before the Italian was back by his Spanish rival, and trying to pull away.
Unfortunately for Antonelli, though, the slipstream in the early laps was enough to keep the pack together, and he couldn’t get away. Instead, a typical Moto3 group fight broke out, with Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power) handing out the big blows, which was not to everyone’s liking.
When Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) hit the front, he started to pull away. He achieved a gap of around one second, which was set on after by Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team). Suzuki had endured a tough start to the weekend; his flight was delayed, so he only arrived at the circuit on Friday morning on four hours’ sleep. When he eventually crashed, just after Andrea Migno (Bester Capital Dubai) had taken second place away from Canet, Suzuki was clearly upset, and understandably so.
That gave Migno the lead, and brought Canet closer to him – the Spaniard keen to not allow his rival any time to breathe. By this point the pair had worked themselves a gap to the duelling Hondas of Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) and Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0), who also had a gap behind to a group of five riders which included Jaume Masia (Bester Capita Dubai), Niccolo Antonelli, Raul Fernandez and Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46).
By the penultimate lap, Masia had closed on the two Hondas ahead, bringing the rest of his ten-wheeler with him, whilst at the same time Rodrigo and Lopez had caught Canet and Migno. This prompted Canet to make his move in turn one with two laps to go. Canet was able to fashion a small gap for himself through the first sector which meant that no one was close enough to pass him down the long back straight. Instead, it was Rodrigo who slid through on Migno for second.
Aron Canet ahead of Gabriel Rodrigo in the Moto3 Grand prix of Americas 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose.
Canet, at the start of the final lap, once more created that gap between himself and his pursuers which put him almost out of range on the straight. However, a strong performance from Migno on the brakes in turn eleven saw him pass Rodrigo and close to within strong slipstream range of Canet, and the Italian was through before the braking zone.
In fact, it was this which cost Migno the race. Canet was then able to switch back to the inside, and force Migno out wide, reclaiming the lead and costing the Italian time in the process, which had the #16 defending from Rodrigo in turn thirteen. Migno’s defence forced Rodrigo wide, which allowed Masia through, and the Spaniard then passed his Bester Capital Dubai teammate, Migno, in the next corner. It was not a great move, though, by the Argentina winner, and it created an unrecoverable gap to Canet, letting the #44 off the hook for his first win of the season, his first with the Max Racing Team and KTM.
It was a smart race from Canet, pushing when he needed to, but allowing others to lead the way when he was not under pressure. It was the opposite performance to the one he produced in 2017, when he dominated the weekend but crashed in the restarted race, this time he was not only fast, but also calm, and most importantly he was intelligent.
The win also moved Canet into the joint lead of the championship, sharing it with Jaume Masia, the Spanish pair each having forty-five points.
Masia’s race was a fantastic comeback. At one point he was down in sixteenth place, seemingly out of contention. However, before long he was up in the top ten, and then closing down the podium fight, which became the leading fight almost as he arrived at it. Having been taken out of the opening race of the season, winning round two and then finishing a close second at the third round are results which have identified the young Spaniard as a championship contender.
Jaume Masia in the Moto3 Grand prix of Americas 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose.
Andrea Migno ensured it was Bester Capital Dubai who occupied both lower spots on the podium, despite his best attempts to throw it away in the final corner. It was Migno’s best race since his win in Mugello back in 2017, and perhaps even better. He led the race seemingly with ease, setting a fast pace that he was comfortable with. Perhaps the move away from the VR46 squad has been just what Migno needed to re-ignite his career.
Only 0.027 seconds back of Migno was Gabriel Rodrigo, who just missed out on his first podium for Gresini, finishing fourth, less than a tenth ahead of pole sitter Niccolo Antonelli. Antonelli made a good comeback after falling back in the middle of the race to finish fifth. Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) who, like Masia, was way back in the pack at the beginning, but fought through, and arrived in the group with the eventual runner-up that brought him into the fight for the win, the Italian finally coming home in sixth.
Seventh place and top rookie went to Raul Fernandez, who had perhaps his most impressive performance in grand prix racing, as he stayed in the top ten for pretty much the whole race, and in the end was in the battle for the win.
Despite looking good for a podium three laps from the flag, the hard fighting that arrived in the final two laps saw Alonso Lopez shuffled back to eighth, ahead of another impressive rookie in the shape of Celestino Vietti who came home in ninth.
Tenth place went to Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46) who cut through the pack with his teammate, Vietti, but couldn’t hold the #13’s pace. Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) finished eleventh, ahead of Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing), Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing), John McPhee (Petronas SRT) and Darryn Binder who ended up rounding out the points.
Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) finished sixteenth, ahead of Vicente Perez (Reale Avintia Arizona 77), Makar Yurchenko (CIP Green Power), Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0), Filip Salac (Redox PruestelGP) and Riccardo Rossi (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) who was the twenty-first and final finisher.
There were a whole host of retirements, the first of which was Can Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) was the championship leader coming into this race but a crash in turn eighteen leaves him fourteen points down on Masia and Canet at the top now. Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) and Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) were the next to go down, Kornfeil getting caught up in Fenati crashing in turn eighteen – the Italian crashed as he passed the Czech, leaving him nowhere to go. Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) was the next to retire, before the aforementioned Tatsuki Suzuki; then it was Aleix Viu (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and finally Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas SRT) retired two laps from the flag.
The second race of the 2019 Superbike World Championship’s fourth round at Assen saw Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) take his eleventh win in as many races in the series, with Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) joining him on the podium.
The grid in race two was as race one, with Alvaro Bautista on pole. The Spaniard made the holeshot again, but by turn five he was back to second.
This was because Jonathan Rea had made an incredible start. From eighth on the grid, he was third by turn one, and soon past van der Mark as well. With championship leader Bautista directly in front of him, Rea wasted no time in getting past.
Knowing he needs to take a lot of points out of the Spaniard to make his championship hopes more realistic, Rea then slowed the pace to get more people involved. Despite the conditions being better than in the morning, the early race pace was nearly one second slower than in race one, and that kept the pack glued together.
Álvaro Bautista ahead of Jonathan Rea. Image courtesy of Ducati
Bautista was trying to attack Rea, but van der Mark was hounding him from behind. Eventually, the Spaniard was able to pass the reigning champion in turn eight. It was expected that Rea would fight straight back, but any attempt he might make was thwarted as Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) slid through on Rea in turn nine. This cost Rea his rhythm, and soon he was back behind van der Mark and almost Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) as well.
It took a lap for Rea to respond and fight back, and by the time he had recovered second position, Bautista was one second clear. Rea pushed hard to try and close the gap, pushing on the absolute limit as he traded the fastest lap of the race with Bautista for five or six tours.
However, Bautista was able to eek out the gap, and soon he was out of reach, a couple of seconds up the road.
Rea then sat back, ready to soak up another second place, but from almost two seconds back, the home rider closed on the reigning champion and passed him with three laps to go. Rea fought back, though, despite clearly missing grip on the right side of the tyre, and he tried to pass the Dutchman in turn ten on the final lap. There was some small contact but both riders stayed on.
They were far enough clear of Lowes behind to not lose any further positions, and after Bautista had claimed his eleventh straight win – matching Rea’s run of eleven straight wins at the end of 2018 – van der Mark and Rea crossed the line for the final time separated by just 0.018 seconds.
For van der Mark, this second place was important, as not only was it another podium at home, but also he became the first rider other than Bautista to beat Rea since Alex Lowes won race two at Brno last season when Rea crashed.
For Rea’s championship, the third place is quite negative, because he is now fifty-three points behind Bautista in the championship. However, there is no doubt the reigning champion enjoyed the battle at the end with van der Mark.
Alex Lowes was able to stick with his teammates pace for a portion of the race, but towards the end he dropped back and ended up in a quite lonely fourth, five seconds behind Rea, and three seconds ahead of Chaz Davies who came home in fifth after a much better ride for the Welshman in the second outing.
Markus Retierberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) took his second sixth place of the day, finishing just under two seconds behind Davies. However, the German had a big battle at the end of the race with his factory BMW teammate, Tom Sykes, who he beat over the line by 0.014 seconds.
Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was in the fight with Alex Lowes and Chaz Davies for much of the race, but fell back dramatically towards the end, perhaps struggling with similar tyre issues to those of his teammate, and finished eighth, ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) who was top ‘independent’, half a second ahead of fellow ‘independent’ Kawasaki rider Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing).
Sandro Cortese. 2019 Assen WSBK. Image courtesy of Yamaha Corporation
Four seconds back of Torres was Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) in eleventh, ahead of Leon Camier (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team), Eugene Laverty (Team GoEleven), Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team) who completed the points.
Sixteenth once again went to Leandro Mercado’s replacement at Orelac Racing VerdNatura, Hector Barbera, and Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team) was the final finisher in seventeenth.
This weekend was the one where Bautista would be tested, and the one where he was most likely to be beaten. He has come away with his 100% winning record in WorldSBK still intact, and relatively comfortably as well. Imola is next up, the home of Ducati, and the first circuit on the calendar which Bautista has not raced at in the past. If he gets out of Imola still unbeaten it will be difficult to see what the others can do about the top step this season.
After snow on Saturday, the first race of the WorldSBK weekend in Assen, the fourth round of the 2019 series, was postponed to Sunday and the Superpole race cancelled.
Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) started from pole position after getting lucky with the timing of a red flag in Superpole on Saturday morning. It was not a great launch from the #19, but the drive and power of the Ducati got him to turn one first, ahead of Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) who got past Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK).
Reiterberger and van der Mark were initially able to go with Bautista. However, a mistake for van der Mark in the final chicane early in the race dropped him off the back of the leading pair. Reiterberger, though – much to everyone’s surprise – stuck with Bautista for several laps. It was not until Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) got by the German that his pace started to fall away.
Alvaro Bautista at Assen WSBK 2019. Image courtesy of Dcuati
From this point, the race was on. There was just over one second between Bautista and Rea – who had started from row three after catching the bad side of the red flag which benefited Bautista in Superpole – and with fourteen laps remaining there was time for the World Champion to close down the championship leader.
However, Bautista pulled away. It was gradual, tenth by tenth, but the Spaniard slowly extended the gap out to over two seconds and, despite Rea’s harder rear tyre, the gap over the line was over three seconds.
No one had ever won the first ten races of a Superbike World Championship season, and considering the struggles Bautista looked to be facing on Friday, it was unexpected that that would change this year. However, in the end he made it look almost as effortless as most of his previous nine, and that emphasised his current dominance of the series.
Ten wins for Bautista is played by ten second places for Jonathan Rea. The four-times champion is now forty-four points behind Bautista in the championship, and seeing the gap extend at a track which he has been so successful on in the past, and which does not allow the Ducati to use its biggest advantage all that much, must be somewhat demoralising for the Northern Irishman. Arguably, Rea could have gone with Bautista had he started from the front row, alongside his rival. Unfortunately, we will not get to understand that in race two, as the grid positions are again decided from Superpole, so once more Rea will go from eighth while Bautista starts from pole.
Michael van der Mark and Alex Lows Pata at Assen 2019 WSBK. Image courtesy of Yamaha Corporation
Third place went to Michael van der Mark, who recovered from his moment early on, on the exit of the chicane to take his first podium of the year, in front of his home fans. The mistake definitely compromised van der Mark’s race, his pace suffered in the laps immediately afterwards. However, finally he made the best result possible, although he will hope to be able to challenge Rea in the second outing.
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) spent the whole race fighting with Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), a fight which he eventually won, while Haslam came home in fifth.
After a brilliant start, Reiterberger finished sixth, his first top ten of 2019. His pace dropped off a lot once the rear tyre started to wear, and this meant he struggled to hold the line. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic ride from the German, and one that he will hope will set the tone for the races to come.
A poor start for Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) ruined his chances. He was out of the top ten by the end of the first sector, and his recovery brought him back to only seventh, after fighting with Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing), Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK). The Welshman was able to break away at the end of the race, but he would have hoped for better.
Of the battle behind, it was Torres who came out on top, taking the top ‘independent’ prize for the first time this season. It seems the Spaniard’s performance in Aragon one week ago was not a flash in the pan.
It was somewhat miraculous that Razgatlioglu was able to ride, after his big crash at the Ramshoek in Superpole, so a top ten will have pleased the Turk, despite being beaten to the line for eighth by Torres.
Tom Sykes dropped back at the end of the race, ending up a second and a half away from the eighth-place battle, but rounded out the top ten nonetheless.
Leon Camier (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) had a desperately lonely ride to eleventh, finishing ten seconds behind Sykes and six ahead of twelfth placed Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK).
Melandri spent much of the race fighting with his GRT Yamaha WorldSBK teammate, Sandro Cortese, although the German ended up thirteenth and six seconds back of the Italian.
Eugene Laverty (Team GoEleven) suffered in the cold conditions of warm up, and the situation didn’t seem to improve in the first race of the day as he finished fourteenth, only two tenths ahead of Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) who completed the points finishers.
Leandro Mercado’s replacement at Orelac Racing VerdNatura, Hector Barbera, was the final finisher in sixteenth.
Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team) were the only retirements.
Electric storms throughout the morning which brought persistent, heavy rain as well as the threat of lightning ensured that the free practice three session for Moto3 was cancelled. This meant that when the riders went out for qualifying just after noon, it was their first experience of the Circuit of the Americas in wet conditions.
The first session was of course Q1, from which Argentina podium finisher Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power), Argentina winner Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai), reigning Junior World Champion Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and regular podium contender Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) advanced to Q2 for the pole position shootout.
Having had an extra fifteen minutes of wet weather experience compared to the complete lack of such experience of the fourteen riders they would join in Q2, Q1’s top four were well-placed to take advantage and make a charge for pole position.
Darryn Binder, Moto3. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
This was especially the case for Darryn Binder, who had at times been two or three seconds faster than his competitors in Q1, and ended up half a second clear of the field in the first session.
However, it was finally Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) who took pole position, his first of the season and, in fact, his first since his debut with Paolo Simoncelli’s team back in the opening round of the 2018 season in Qatar. Taking pole by half a second on his penultimate lap of the session, it was an impressive performance by Antonelli, and one he will hope to repeat in the race.
Second fastest was Raul Fernandez, the fastest of those promoted from Q1. This is Fernandez’ debut pole, and he showed his emotion at that quite clearly after he crossed the line. Perhaps this was also because his final lap was not a simple one, as he encountered some traffic in the final sector – Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas SRT) and Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) being the obstacles in the Spaniard’s way.
Two weeks on from missing out on a home GP podium in the final corner, Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) took third place, seven tenths from Antonelli’s pole time.
Jaume Masia set a fast lap late on in the session to take fourth and head up the second row of tomorrow’s grid, with Darryn Binder and Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) – who crashed mid-way through the session – joining him on row two.
Tatsuki Suzuki – teammate to the pole sitter – made the seventh fastest time, and will line up with John McPhee (Petronas SRT) and Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) on row three tomorrow.
The two Leopard Racing Hondas of Marcos Ramirez and Lorenzo Dalla Porta – who crashed late on – are joined by two-time COTA winner Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) on row four; whilst the Italian duo of Andrea Migno (Bester Capital Dubai) and Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46) are joined on row five by Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP); and Ayumu Sasaki, Tony Arbolino and Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) will line up on row six.
Can Oncu, MotoGP, Grand Prix of the Americas 2019. Image courtesy of David Goldman/KTM
Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) was the fastest of those not to progress through Q1 and will start nineteenth tomorrow, with Can Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46) making it an all-rookie affair on row seven tomorrow; whilst row eight will see Makar Yurchenko (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) line up ahead of Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) and round one winner Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia).
Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) will line up for the first time in a Grand Prix tomorrow, starting twenty-fifth, with Riccardo Rossi (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) and Albert Arenas’ replacement Aleix Viu (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) ensuring that row nine is as row seven – consisting entirely of rookies.
The final row on tomorrow’s grid will be two-thirds full, with Filip Salac (Redox PruestelGP) ahead of Vicente Perez (Reale Avintia Arizona 77) who crashed very early on in Q1, and was taken to the medical centre.
The cancellation of the FP3 sessions for all classes in Austin on Saturday meant that for the Moto2 riders, the day was spent waiting all day for their qualifying session, which came after the other two GP classes.
A wet pit lane at Cota. Image courtesy of Dynavolt Intact GP
Despite the lashings of rain all day, Q1 got underway in dry conditions, and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) joined Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in advancing to Q2 to join the fastest fourteen riders from Friday.
Binder immediately put his extra track time from Q1 compared to those riders directly through to Q2 to good use, as he led the early part of the session, although the fastest riders from day one in Texas built their rhythm, and eventually overhauled the South African’s top time.
It was Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) who took pole position, his second of the season after securing first on the grid back in Qatar. The German was dominant on Friday, and continued that into qualifying. Whilst it took him a while to find the confidence in the wind, and after a day of sitting around and waiting, once he found his rhythm he was always going to be difficult to better.
Alex Marquez, Moto2, Grand Prix of the Americas 2019. Image courtesy of David Goldman/MarcVDS
That said, Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) got close, and was just 0.058 seconds away from Schrotter’s pole time by the end of the session. Last year’s pole sitter will be hoping he can better translate that qualifying speed into a good race pace than what he managed last year, when he finished second, two seconds shy of the winner Francesco Bagnaia.
Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) completes the front row for the Moto2 Grand Prix of the Americas. The British rider has a good history at the Texan track, but has been somewhat under the radar this weekend. After a crash in Argentina, a solid points haul will be important in the race for Lowes.
Fourth place went to Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP). He was following Schrotter on the German’s pole lap, and was making a time which could have been good enough for the front row, but a mistake in sector three cost him seven tenths, and any chance of the first row. However, fourth place is not a disaster for the Swiss, who will look to return to the podium after a crash in Argentina.
Brad Binder ended Q2 in fifth, a good result for the KTM rider on a weekend where the Austrian marque seems to be struggling quite significantly in the intermediate class.
Speed Up won the 2015 Moto2 Grand Prix of the Americas with Sam Lowes, and a sixth place for Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools – Speed Up) puts him in a good position to fight at the front in the race four years on. The Spaniard has yet to make a serious impression on the Italian frame this season, something he will hope to change in the race.
Before Friday, Mattia Pasini (Flexbox HP 40) had never ridden a Triumph-powered Moto2 bike. However, he has been fast all weekend in his replacement ride for the injured Augusto Fernandez, and qualified in an impressive seventh place.
Jorge Martin, Moto2, Grand Prix of the Americas 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
Reigning Moto3 World Champion Jorge Martin had a pretty dreadful Friday. The Spaniard spent much of his time on day one in Texas outside of the top twenty. However, after advancing through Q1, the Spaniard was able to put a good performance together in Q2 to qualify in the middle of row three, just under half a second behind Pasini, and a third of a tenth ahead of Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) who lines up on the back of row three in ninth.
Luca Marini was quite strong on one lap speed on Friday, ending both sessions in fourth, but qualifying did not go to plan for the Italian, who will start from the head of the fourth row in tenth, ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) and Marco Bezzecchi, who had his best qualifying in Moto2.
Row five sees Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools – Speed Up) line up ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40). The Italian has a poor record in Austin, with a best finish of only tenth. However, after looking reasonably competitive on Friday he would have hoped for a better result in qualifying, but as it is he will need a good start and some good luck to make it through turn one cleanly.
Bo Bendsneyder enjoyed his best Moto2 qualifying of the season in sixteenth, ahead of Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), who has been competitive all weekend, but ruined his qualifying with a nasty crash on the exit of turn nine, and will line up back in eighteenth.
The fastest rider to not make Q2 was Iker Lecuona (American Racing), who will line up nineteenth, ahead of a disappointing Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in twentieth and Jesko Raffin (NTS RW Racing GP) in twenty-first.
Joe Roberts (American Racing) will start his home GP from twenty-second, ahead of Khairul Idham Pawi (Petronas SRT) and Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) on row eight.
Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech3) will start the race from the head of row nine, alongside Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing) and Stefano Manzi’s replacement Gabriele Ruiu (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward); whilst the injured Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) complete the grid.
Neither Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) nor Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) set a time, with Ekky cashing out at the beginning of Q1, and Dixon being ruled out after his nasty Friday practice crash due to concussion.
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.
Andrea Dovizioso during Cota qualifying. Motogp 2019. Image courtesy of Ducati
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.
Valentino Rossi during qualifying at the Grand prix of the Americas, Cota. Image courtesy of Yamaha Corporation
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.
Pol Espargaro, MotoGP, qualifying at Grand Prix of the Americas 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
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.
Jorge Lorenzo running down the pit lane at Cota, during Q2. Image courtesy of Box Repsol
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.
