— MotoGP 2013 – Round Two – Circuit of The Americas
— Marquez on pole
On only his second MotoGP™ race weekend, 20-year-old Marc Marquez has achieved pole position for the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas. The Repsol Honda Team rider led teammate Dani Pedrosa, as championship leader Jorge Lorenzo appeared to miscalculate his final run en route to third place.
Fastest all weekend so far with the exception of third practice, Marquez had also topped a three-day test session at the new Circuit of the Americas last month. This afternoon, he posted the quickest ever MotoGP™ lap time at the Texan venue, delivering 2’03.021 and thus undercutting 1983 and 1985 World Champion Freddie Spencer to become the youngest ever pole-sitter in the top class of the sport.
Pedrosa lowered his personal best on the final run but missed out on pole by two and a half tenths, whereas Lorenzo appeared to avoid traffic by touring through the pit lane – only to rejoin the track too late to post a last-gasp challenge. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow – who had not attended the test last month – will head up Row 2 from LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso. The top eight is completed by GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi.
Ninth on the grid will be leading CRT rider Aleix Espargaro, as the Power Electronics Aspar rider not only jumped up from Q1 but proceeded to out-qualify both Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden (10th) and Ignite Pramac Racing’s Ben Spies (12th). Between the two Americans will be Tech 3 newcomer Bradley Smith, starting 11th in Round 2.
The fifth row will be headed up by Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone, who like 14th-placed Randy de Puniet (Aspar) had challenged but failed to earn a spot in Q2. In 15th position, Hector Barbera will be the leading Avintia Blusens rider, starting the race in front of PBM duo Yonny Hernandez and Michael Laverty, NGM Mobile Forward Racing pairing Colin Edwards and Claudio Corti, Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci and Blusens’ Hiroshi Aoyama. The back row will consist of Australian Bryan Staring, Czech Lukas Pesek and American wildcard rider Blake Young for Gresini, Ioda and Attack Performance Racing, respectively.
24 riders will start Sunday’s race. Wildcard Michael Barnes (GPTech) failed to make the 107% threshold, whereas Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham has sustained a fracture to his right collarbone following a collision with Staring in Q1. The Czech has since undergone surgery in the Brackenridge University Hospital of Austin and has been declared unfit to race on Sunday. He may be able to return next time out in Jerez.
With reigning Moto2™ World Champion Marc Marquez on pole position, the inaugural Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas begins at 2pm local time (GMT -5) on Sunday.
1 Marc Marquez 2’03.021 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 2’03.275 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 2’04.100 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Cal Crutchlow 2’04.267 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Stefan Bradl 2’04.445 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
6 Andrea Dovizioso 2’04.873 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Alvaro Bautista 2’04.942 SPA HONDA & FTR Go & Fun Honda Gresini
8 Valentino Rossi 2’05.380 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
9 Aleix Espargaro 2’05.389 SPA ART Power Electronics Aspar
10 Nicky Hayden 2’05.568 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Bradley Smith 2’06.740 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Ben Spies 2’07.044 USA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
13 Andrea Iannone 2’06.872 ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
14 Randy De Puniet 2’07.129 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
15 Hector Barbera 2’07.717 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
16 Yonny Hernandez 2’07.738 COL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
17 Michael Laverty 2’08.259 GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
18 Colin Edwards 2’08.475 USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
19 Claudio Corti 2’08.792 ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
20 Danilo Petrucci 2’08.825 ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
21 Hiroshi Aoyama 2’09.062 JAP FTR Avintia Blusens
22 Bryan Staring 2’10.098 AUS HONDA & FTR Go & Fun Honda Gresini
23 Lukas Pesek 2’10.507 CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
24 Blake Young 2’10.606 USA APR CRT Attack Performance
25 Karel Abraham 2’03.275 CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
— HRC Report
Factory Honda team-mates Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) have dominated both days of practice and qualifying for the inaugural Grand Prix of the Americas here in Austin, Texas, making the pair firm favourites for tomorrow’s race.
Marquez took pole position this afternoon with a thrilling display of aggressive riding. It was another impressive performance from the 20-year-old rookie who bounced back from a heavy tumble during this morning’s third practice session. Marquez – who has led all but one session here – is now the youngest-ever rider to have achieved pole position in the premier class, bettering Freddie Spencer, who has held the record since he took pole at the 1982 Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama, Spain.
Tomorrow Marquez will bid to become the youngest-ever winner of a premier-class motorcycle Grand Prix. If he does so, he will once again take the record from Honda rider ‘Fast Freddie’ Spencer who won the Belgian Grand Prix in July 1982 at the age of 20 years and 196 days. Marquez will start tomorrow’s race at 20 years and 64 days old.
So far Pedrosa is the only man to have bettered Marquez in a practice session at the Circuit of the Americas, the Spaniard ending this morning’s FP3 session almost four tenths ahead of his compatriot. In qualifying former 125 and 250 World Champion Pedrosa was 0.254 seconds down and is hoping to make overnight improvements to rear-end grip to help him challenge his team-mate in the race.
The new Circuit of the Americas is proving a real hit with riders who are enjoying its many different challenges. The track features 20 corners – more than any other on the MotoGP calendar – and also the championship’s longest straight, at 1.2km/0.746 miles. The mix of corners – from very slow hairpins to high-speed sweepers – is a real test for both riders and engineers, who must work to find a compromise in their machine settings. Yesterday morning the asphalt was very ‘green’ and slippery. Since then it has gained grip and lap times fell almost six seconds between FP1 and qualifying.
Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) will start tomorrow’s race from the middle of the second row of the grid after qualifying fifth quickest. The German is going well here and ended yesterday’s first two sessions third fastest, making it a Honda one-two-three at the end of the first day.
Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) will start from the third row. His seventh-fastest time came after several set-up changes and a decision to run a hard rear tyre, with which he felt much more comfortable. The Spaniard thinks he might’ve made the second row if he hadn’t got held up by a group of riders during the final minutes of qualifying.
Rookie Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda) had a coming together with Karel Abraham (ART) during qualifying which didn’t help his efforts to go for his best-possible lap time. He ended the session in 22nd place.
Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) scored his first Grand Prix pole position in this afternoon’s Honda-powered Moto2 qualifying session with a brilliant final lap that put him almost seven tenths of a second ahead of Takaaki Nakagami (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex). Spaniard Nicolas Terol (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 Suter) completed the front row, just 0.021 seconds behind the Japanese.
Championship leader Pol Espargaro (Tuenti HP40 Pons Kalex), who took pole and race victory in Qatar, had a difficult session, ending up seventh quickest, which puts him at the top of the third row. The second row consists of fourth fastest Esteve Rabat (Tuenti HP 40 Pons Kalex), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert Suter) and Simone Corsi (NGM Mobile Racing Speed Up).
Honda’s Moto3 riders had a better time in qualifying at COTA today than they had at Losail two weeks ago. Jack Miller (Caretta Technology – RTG FTR Honda) had a brilliant session to end up fourth quickest, which puts him at the top of the second row for tomorrow’s first race of the day. The 18-year-old Australian attributed some of his impressive performance to recent engine updates from Honda.
Honda has two other riders in the top ten here: Danny Webb (Ambrogio Racing Suter Honda) and Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold FTR Honda) who were eighth and ninth this afternoon. The Briton and the Frenchman were happy with their form and hoping for even better in the race.
Isaac Vinales (Bimbo Ongetta-Centro Seta FTR Honda) was 11th, Brad Binder (Ambrogio Racing Suter Honda) 14th, Alessandro Tonucci (Team La Fonte Tasca Racing Honda) 16th and Romano Fenati (San Carlo Team Italia FTR Honda) 17th.
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: pole position, 2m 03.021s
“We are happy of course, because we took our first pole position which is important and always exciting! We knew beforehand that we could fight for pole, but you never know what will happen in the session. Both Dani and Jorge are fast over a single lap, and we managed to overcome them. The important stuff starts tomorrow, because we have a long, physical race with many of changes of direction to deal with. We need to be ready, because tomorrow is what really counts and I will do the best that I can!”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd – 2m 03.275s
“The session was a little tense, as in fifteen minutes you only have time for four good laps. Fortunately we didn’t have any problems with traffic this time, and I was able to focus and put in a strong lap – faster than all but one in the end! It was a good session, and we took second on the grid which is positive, because Marc put in a fast lap and is close. We need to try to increase the rear grip for tomorrow and work towards having a strong race.”
Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 5th – 2m 04.445s
“Today was a good day for us because we could use the full potential of the hard tyre which is a positive sign. In the fourth practice session we were able to make a longer distance evaluating the reaction of the hard tyre. We improved our consistency and I am pleased with the bike set-up so far because we can be fast from the first lap until the end of the race. Today’s qualifying went well but I am not totally happy with the result. However top five is our target and we can stay with the guys up in the pack.”
Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 7th, 2m 04.942s
“In terms of the lap time we are a long way from pole position but we are quite close to the front row and we have done a good job this afternoon to make the right changes to the settings. We decided to use the hard tyre and the bike felt completely different, I had more confidence with it even after a lot of laps. My first run in qualifying was quite good but then on my second one I got held up by a bunch of riders looking for a tow and missed out on the chance to move up to the second row, which I think I could have done. The important thing is that we are working well and we have a good feeling with the bike for the race tomorrow. The front three are out of reach but I think we can fight for fourth if we can get a good start and push.”
Bryan Staring, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 22nd, 2m 10.098s
“I’m not happy because I still haven’t worked out the fastest way around this incredible track. I don’t have the right line and speed through the corners and we’re struggling. At the end we also got taken out by Karel Abraham so that didn’t help but tomorrow we’ll try to get a good start and finish with a respectable result.”
Moto2 rider quotes
Scott Redding, Marc VDS Racing Team: pole position, 2m 10.577s
“The big thing for the race will be saving the rear tyre because after three or four laps it drops down a lot. I will have to focus very hard to control that. To be on pole is great, I’ve taken a lot of confidence from it. I’ve not found the track difficult to learn but the grip is always changing – it was slippery yesterday morning, then it got better and then it went away again in qualifying, so we will have to adapt to it in the race as well as we can.”
Takaaki Nakagami, Italtrans Racing Team: 2nd, 2m 11.266s
“Being second for the second race in a row isn’t boring, even if I would have preferred pole. Anyway, the general feeling is positive because we have been up front all weekend and a front-row start was what I wanted. It will be a very difficult race because no one knows how long the tyres will last, but it’s the same for everybody. We are still looking for a sweeter setting because the bike is still a little too harsh.”
Nicolas Terol, Mapfre Aspar Team: 3rd, 2m 11.287s
“Throughout the weekend we’ve kept a great pace. In this circuit I felt comfortable from the first moment. In Qatar I also felt good but in the race things went wrong. Before qualifying here it was clear that we could fight for the first row, as throughout the GP I’ve had a great feeling with the bike. I am very happy to reach third position. In this circuit we have to take tyre consumption into account, because they degrade quickly. I noticed this today – when the track has more grip it seems to burn up the tyres. In warm-up we will try to optimise the set-up to minimise tyre wear. In the race it will be important to be gentle with the throttle. The race will be tough and I will have to fight hard.”
Honda Moto3 Rider quotes
Jack Miller, Caretta Technology – RTG: 4th, 2m 18.303s
“The FTR chassis is working really well here, it turns great. I felt comfortable out there and although we’re down a little bit on speed, we’re getting closer, step by step. We are definitely closer than we were in Qatar. This is quite a difficult track for set-up because you’ve got a lot of little 90 degree turns and then you’ve got some high-speed stuff. I’m feeling pretty positive and we’ll just keep plugging away.”
Danny Webb, Ambrogio Racing: 8th, 2m 18.899s
“The beginning of the session was not so bad. In the middle we got stuck sometimes, and sadly we went a bit the wrong way with the setting. So we came back to not quite the same set-up as yesterday afternoon, but something very similar, and that made a big improvement. On my last lap I gave it everything I had, and the time wasn’t so bad. If we have a good first six, seven laps we can also so a good race.”
Alexis Masbou, Ongetta-Rivacold: 9th, 2m 18.906s
“All free practice was very difficult, we didn’t find a good setting. Then this morning we tried a lot of different things, maybe too many. Finally for qualifying we went back to a safer setting. I’m finding the slow corners quite difficult, because it’s not easy to find a settings compromise for all the slow corners and all the fast corners. We will check the data again and I think we can improve for the race, a little bit.”
— Yamaha Report
Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo took third position in the first ever qualifying session for the Grand Prix of The Americas today at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin Texas. The MotoGP World Champion was quick to find pace on his first time attack in the new format 15 minute qualifying heat, taking provisional pole briefly with ten minutes left on the clock. Unfortunately a mistimed trip through pit lane as the last minutes died away left him unable to mount another hot lap. The result sees Lorenzo take the third position on the front row of the grid next to rival Dani Pedrosa.
Team mate Valentino Rossi continued to struggle under braking today and was unable to find a set up for his YZR-M1 that would enable a challenge for the front row. The Italian pushed hard through the final practice and subsequent qualifying session, eventually settling for eighth position on the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd, Time – 2’04.100
“What happened in qualifying is more or less what happened in all the sessions, the Hondas, Marc and Dani in particular, are much more fast than us in pace and on a fast lap. Our best position we could do today was third. Tomorrow in the race anything could happen. If something strange happens we can fight for the win but in normal conditions third is a really good position for tomorrow. We hope that the race is going to be better than qualifying and we can be closer to Marc and Dani.”
Valentino Rossi, 8th, Time – 2’05.380
“We expected to go better today but we were unable to fix the problem in braking especially in the first part and I lose too much time. We still have tomorrow, we know that this weekend on this track it can be difficult and in fact it is. We have to make a good race and try to achieve some positions and take some points.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“The front row is very good so we are satisfied with that, I think it was the maximum for today. The last tyre didn’t go well in qualifying, Jorge ended up in a group so he went in to the pit lane and didn’t realise we didn’t have enough time for another time attack. At the moment we are just one metre from pole position. The race is tomorrow and the bike is behaving ok so lets see what we can do as It’s quite clear we don’t have the advantage we had in Qatar. Anything can happen, the fast guys can make mistakes and the race is a long one, you have to stay focused and Jorge is very good at doing that.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“We are continuing to work hard to close the gap to the front. We will make some changes tonight and we will hopefully see the result in warm up. We know this is not the best circuit for us but we will continue to give 100%. Jorge made a good qualifying session but unfortunately he missed the opportunity to improve his lap time due to the mistake. To start this race from the front row is important. As a result of qualifying Vale will need a very aggressive start to the race. If we can make another step with the set up then he can definitely catch the riders in front of him.”
Crutchlow close to front row in Texas
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Cal Crutchlow will start the inaugural Grand Prix of the Americas from fourth place on the grid after the British rider just missed out on a front row spot for the second race in succession in 2013. In a breathless 15-minute QP2 to decide the top 12 grid positions, Crutchlow produced another fantastic qualifying performance in gloriously sunny conditions at the new Circuit of the Americas (COTA) to set a best time of 2.04.267. That put him in fourth position and just 0.167s from claiming a ninth front row start in his MotoGP career. Crutchlow’s phenomenal progress throughout his first visit to COTA was confirmed in FP3 and FP4 when he secured the fourth best time, the 27-year-old improving his pace set yesterday by two seconds to move up from sixth. He knocked another big chunk of time off his pace again in QP2 and is confident that he can fight for a place in the top five in tomorrow’s 21-lap race.
Bradley Smith’s second appearance for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team will start from 11th on the grid. The British rider ended the opening three practice sessions in 12th position, a result that meant he just missed being seeded straight through to QP2 by two places. Smith knew that a top two placing in the 15-minute QP1 session would secure him a spot in QP2 where grid positions for the first four rows are decided. A best lap of 2.06.591, which was over 1.2s faster than his previous best all weekend, brilliantly put him into QP2 and continued his climb up the order to qualify in 11th by overhauling Ben Spies.
Cal Crutchlow – 4th, Time – 2’04.267
“I am really happy to qualify in fourth, even though it would have been nice to be back on the front row again. But coming here with no previous track experience meant it was always going to be an uphill battle, so to finish so close to Lorenzo and be ahead of Bradl and Valentino, who both tested here last month, is a great achievement for myself and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. This is a long and technical track but fortunately I have been able to learn it very quickly and my crew have also got their heads around what I need to go fast and together we have done a great job to be so far up the grid. I’m obviously quite a long way off Marquez and Dani but so is everybody else. It will be a really tough race and very physical for 21-laps but having come here without any prior track knowledge, I always said a top six finish will be mission accomplished for me and that remains my goal.”
Bradley Smith – 11th, Time – 2’06.740
“It has been a really hard two days but in the end it turned out very well and I’m happy with my performance. Trying to understand the bike and the Bridgestone tyres around this incredibly technical circuit has not been an easy task but it is nice that I made it into QP2 and then pick up another place on the grid as well to start from 11th. At one stage it didn’t even look like I’d make it through to the final qualifying so I’m happy. I improve each time I go out and to be honest going into QP1 was a benefit for me because it meant I got a few more laps under my belt to understand the track more. My only goal for the race is to make it to the finish after the crash in Qatar. I need to gain experience over a race distance and while 21-laps here is going to be really tough, I am really looking forward to it.”
— Ducati Report
The first MotoGP qualifying sessions to be held at the Circuit of the Americas took place today in beautiful weather conditions, and Ducati Team riders Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden put their Desmosedici GP13 machines directly into Q2, reserved for the top ten riders from the free-practice sessions.
In the action-packed, 15-minute Q2 session, Andrea Dovizioso continued his positive weekend trend, and his penultimate lap put him sixth on the time sheets. As happened two weeks ago at round one, his teammate, Nicky Hayden, experienced vibration on his first exit in qualifying, but after pitting, he posted his best time on his final lap. The American will start tomorrow’s race from the tenth spot on the grid.
Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team, 6th (2:04.873)
“We’ve been going well the whole weekend, so I’m pleased. The track is really nice, especially because the grip is nearly normal now, which makes riding more fun as well. The gap to the front is pretty big, but it’s sort of like that for many of the riders. The race will be strange because the circuit is new for everyone. The tyres aren’t wearing because they don’t have to ‘work’ hard here, so I doubt that the performance will fall off much. I managed to adapt pretty quickly to this new track, and I’m pushing hard because in some respects I feel good with the Ducati. We know we have limits, but we’re working well. I see optimism on the team, because we want to return to the top.”
Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team, 10th (2:05.568)
“We made some progress this morning, and I thought we could be a little bit more competitive in Q2 than I was. When I first went out, I had a vibration issue with the rear tyre that was similar to what I had in qualifying in Qatar. I came in and changed tyres, and it went away immediately. Starting tenth here isn’t good. We’ll see how things go tomorrow, especially at turn one, where it will be interesting to see if everyone can get through cleanly on the start. We still have some problems with the front, which hurts your confidence. We also need to improve in the esses, so we’ll try something in the warm-up. Regardless, I’m looking forward to the race.”
— Bridgestone Report
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft & Medium; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)
Weather: Dry. Ambient 24-24°C; Track 45-46°C (Bridgestone measurement)
Marc Marquez set a scorching time of 2’03.021 to claim pole position for the inaugural Americas MotoGP race as the Repsol Honda rider continued to dominate proceedings at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
Marquez qualified 0.254 seconds ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa, the pair ensuring a Repsol Honda lockout of the top two grid positions. Rounding out the front row is Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo who set a personal best time of 2’04.100. In what was an impressive qualifying performance for a CRT machine, Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro took full advantage of the new CRT-specific soft compound rear tyre to set a time of 2’05.389 to secure P9 on the grid.
Track conditions for qualifying improved compared to yesterday with less wind and a peak track temperature of 46°C in Qualifying Practice. The better grip levels enabled riders to make a large reduction in lap times from yesterday and evaluate different tyre options for the race. Many riders used the warmer temperatures today to assess the harder front slick and both front slick options are likely to be used tomorrow. Rear slick choice today favoured the softer option as it offers better overall grip in the sweeping sections of the circuit and it is expected that the softer rear slick will be the popular race choice.
Tomorrow morning’s Warm Up session at 0940 local time (GMT -6) will provide a final opportunity for riders to decide on tyre choice before the twenty-one lap race starts at 1400.
Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“After two days of activity the track condition has continually improved and in qualifying we began to see the true pace of the circuit. The warmer temperatures in the afternoon allowed teams to try some different tyre combinations and get an idea of what options they have for the race. I expect that front tyre choice will be split between the harder and softer slick options while for the rear, the softer slick options seem to be preferred at this stage. This is the first race where we have provided the CRT riders with their own, softer rear slick and the feedback we have had on this option is very positive. Aleix’s qualifying time today is a good example of how this option can be used to close the performance gap to the works riders.”