Rennie Scaysbrook | April 7, 2016
The 2016 MotoGP World Championship has already thrown up some incredible action and surprising results, and we’re only two rounds down. Nobody thought Marc Marquez would be leading the championship so early after the Repsol Honda team’s much publicized troubles adapting to the new control Magneti Marelli electronics and Michelin tires, with Marquez himself admitting that trying a different riding style to suit the new package simply didn’t work for him and the RCV. A return to the swashbuckling, rodeo riding style the world knows him for at Argentina netted Marquez a dominant victory, and he heads to COTA full of confidence at a track he is yet to be defeated at, and thus must surely start as the race favorite.
“In the past, this circuit has been very good for me,” Marquez said in the press conference this morning. “Now the feeling is very good on the bike, but here we have many hard accelerations and this is where we lose a bit. My team and Honda are working hard but I am very happy to be here. This is a good country for me.”
Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi put aside persistent questions from the press regarding Lorenzo’s possible switch to Ducati for next season, insisting they must improve at a circuit that has traditionally been a difficult venue for Yamaha.
“This track is very difficult, so long, so technical,” said nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi, who’s record at COTA reads sixth, eighth, third between 2013 and 2015. “In the last years, this is not the best track for us. Last year was not so bad with a podium but for this year, for sure it will be more difficult with the Michelin tires on this track. We suffer a lot on the front here (with last year’s Bridgestone tire), so we must understand how to be ready with the Michelin.”
Lorenzo concurred, saying, “This track is hard for us, but if there’s one year we can do well, it’s this one. Michelin had many problems in Argentina and here I think we have harder compounds, so for sure the question is whether the tires will adapt to our bike.” For Lorenzo, a crasher last week in Argentina, his COTA record reads second, 10th, fourth between 2013 and 2015.
The man who will have more than a few watchful eyes on him at COTA will be Ducati’s Andrea Iannone. Two crashes from two starts, including the infamous incident where he took his teammate Andrea Dovizioso with him in Argentina, mean he will be under severe pressure this weekend to get some world championship points on the board.
Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales is a rider who has tasted the top step of the COTA podium, when he took his first Moto2 victory in 2014. The Spaniard, another crasher at Argentina, will be a dark horse for a podium just as he was one week ago in South America.
Andrea Dovizioso was all set for a second successive podium in Argentina before his being taken out by Iannone, and has a good record at COTA. Dovi finished second here behind Marquez last year and the fast nature of the circuit suits the rocket ship engine of the Ducati, meaning there’s every chance of a repeat performance from the popular Italian.
Dani Pedrosa is another rider who could spring a surprise at a circuit he enjoys. The diminutive Spaniard has finished runner up in each of the two COTA races he has contested (2013/2014), however missed out on racing last year due to injury.
The battle for fifth to 10th is wide open and could see any number of riders fighting through. Pramac Ducati’s Scott Redding, Marc VDS’s Jack Miller, Aspar Team MotoGP’s Eugene Laverty, Ecstar Suzuki’s Aleix Esparagro and his Tech3 Yamaha brother Pol, Bradley Smith and Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera are all possible top 10 finishers but unlikely to challenge for a podium position.
The action for round three of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship begins with Moto3 Free Practice 1 at 9:00am local Texas time.