Michelin’s MotoGP™ debut at the Circuit Of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, America has been totally dominated by Marc Marquez on a Honda as he secured his fourth successive victory at the Texan track.

Michelin brought new rear tyres to the American circuit following a decision after last weekend’s race to begin production on a brand new version in readiness for today’s race. The tyres began their build process on Monday in Clermont Ferrand, France and were then shipped to Houston in Texas, before finally arriving in separate batches at the track on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening. The new tyres had a stiffer construction with a softer compound, designed specifically for the Texan circuit, and built with a significant respect for safety to counter any incidents like the one encountered in Argentina last weekend, although the result of the analysis of Scott Redding’s tyre is not yet available.

Free Practice and qualifying went well with the new MICHELIN Power Slicks with all teams and riders adapting to the new rubber and dialling in the settings as practice continued, before Marquez secured his fourth pole position in-a-row at COTA on the Saturday afternoon. Today’s race was held in warm, but cloudy, conditions and as the lights changed to signal the start of the race in front of over 56,000 enthusiastic fans, Marquez led off the line, but was passed by reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. The 2015 champion was unable to make the move permanent and his Yamaha was relegated to second as Marquez again took the lead – a position that he would not relinquish again as he stormed to back-to-back victories on Michelin tyres, the first rider to do so since Valentino Rossi in 2006.

Behind the dominant Marquez, Lorenzo rode a lonely race and was never really pressured as he took a comfortable second place, with Andrea Iannone in third on a Ducati to complete a podium of three different manufacturers. The variation in machines continued into fourth place after a race-long battle between Suzuki riders Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaro, saw the former just edge out his team-mate. Sixth position and the honour of First Independent Team Rider went to Ducati’s Scott Redding, While Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro finished in seventh. Eighth and ninth positions went to Ducati, one ridden by Michele Pirro and the other by Hector Barbera respectively, whilst a solid ride from Stefan Bradl secured tenth for Aprilia and the fifth different brand in the top-10. Marquez’s victory takes him to the top of the championship classification after three-rounds, in front of Lorenzo and Yamaha’s Rossi – who unfortunately crashed on lap-three due to a clutch issue he suffered at the start of the race.

Michelin and the whole MotoGP paddock now heads back across the Atlantic ocean on its way to Europe as it moves to Jerez in Spain for round-four of the championship, which will be held on Sunday 24th April in the heart of Andalucía.

Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda:

“During this weekend we have all done a really good job together. I want to say this victory is not only for me and my team, but for my Michelin Technician, because he convinced me that the soft front tyre option was good for me and it would be the right option for my riding style and that really convinced me. With this choice I was able to do a great race and I am very happy with the result. Now we go to Europe, these are tracks that are very different to where we have already been and also Michelin has more experience on them – because the tracks are older – so we will try to work hard again when we get there.”

Nicolas Goubert - Deputy Director, Technical Director and Supervisor of the MotoGP Programme:

“What we really wanted to do here was to show that we could react in the correct way after the issue that Scott had in Argentina. We did exactly what we said we would do and brought some new tyres that were based on the extra tyre that we should have run in Argentina, but with compounds more suited to the track here. It was tight in the factory to get it done, but it worked and the tyres did a pretty good job, so we are pleased about that. Considering this is the first time that we have had these constructions on the race-track we are quite satisfied with the results.”

Piero Taramasso - Manager of the Two-Wheel Motorsport Group:

“This has been quite a demanding week, because after Argentina we had to react quickly, so we had to build the tyre, ship it, get it through customs and then get it delivered to the track, so the logistics of that were not easy – but luckily everything went well. We got all the tyres in time so that the teams and the riders had time to test it properly and make the correct settings and then make the right tyre choice for the race. I really want to give a special mention to the Michelin technicians and fitters here at the track for their hard work this week, and especially the staff back in the factory who pushed so hard to make sure the tyres were made and sent here for us to use.”

Having followed up a third placed finish in the opening race of the Moto GP season in Qatar with victory in Argentina last time around, Marc Marquez is seemingly growing in confidence with his Honda team. The rider, who is unbeaten at the Circuit of Americas since joining Moto GP back in 2013, has set the fastest time in practice in Austin. With riders testing out new soft and medium Michelin tyres following previous issues with Scott Redding’s Pramac Ducati, it was Marquez who looked the most comfortable as he posted the fastest lap of the day in 2 minutes 04.953 seconds. 

His closest challenge in Austin on Friday was world champion George Lorenzo who managed to close to within 0.252 seconds of his countryman. Marquez had earlier recovered from a crash in which he lost control on the final corner of the circuit, eventually regaining his composure in the afternoon session. The Spaniard was favourite for the championship at the start of the season, and early performances have done little to effect this, with bookmakers Betway offering him odds of as little as 1.66/1 on to claim glory come the end of the campaign.

Italian Andrea Iannone ended the day in third place in practice, however the Ducati rider a massive 0.617 seconds adrift of leader Marquez. Marquez certainly looks to be the man to beat this season, with his performances on his way to a dominant win in Argentina last time around having his nearest rivals worried. Having seen of early pressure from Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi in Argentina, Marquez was left to watch the carnage unfold behind him as the conditions led to collisions across the circuit. The two Ducati riders collided on the final lap, in a race that had already been shortened by twenty laps due to tyre concerns https://sports.betway.com/ win, lose or draw offer the best odds on motor racing around, with team mates Iannone and Dovizioso priced at 9/1 and 12/1 respectively to recover from events in Argentina with victory.

It remains to be seen who will pose the greatest threat to Marquez, who won the world championship in both 2013 and 2014. The Spaniard is one of only four riders to have won titles in three different categories, after successes in Moto2 and 125cc. The talented rider will certainly be difficult to stop this year, however the unpredictability of Moto GP means that nothing is ever certain. 

The latest MotoGP practice sessions on the Austin circuit promise a rather interesting race tomorrow. In fact, there are quite a few riders who will be contending for a position in the points, a compact group that includes Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl's Aprilia RS-GP machines.

The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini standard-bearers will start tomorrow from the sixth (Bradl, 16th) and seventh (Bautista, 19th) row on the grid after also demonstrating a greatly improved race pace. Something is still lacking on the flying lap, a condition that is definitely affected by the inexperience in the saddle of the new Aprilia prototype.
In view of the race, the weather factor is not to be underestimated. Today on the Texan track, the rain, although light, had an impact on a few of the cadet category sessions, whereas the MotoGP FP3, FP4 and qualifying sessions were held on a substantially dry track.

ALVARO BAUTISTA
“This morning we did a very important test on the setup, trying to improve, but it didn't provide the results we had hoped for. So in the afternoon we made some less drastic changes in what we felt was the best direction and I tried using the hard rear tyre. All told, it didn't go badly, a lot will depend on the temperature we find for the race tomorrow. We need to improve acceleration, coming out of the corners the bike tends to become unstable and that costs us time. In qualifying I improved my time and I could have done even better, but unfortunately another rider got in the way. In any case, we know that we can improve a lot in the race. We'll see what the weather is like tomorrow and we'll do our best”.

STEFAN BRADL
“These were good qualifiers for me. My only disappointment is that I wasn't able to line up my best performance in the various sectors. On my flying lap I also had to overtake a rider and that cost me a few tenths in the straight stretch, but I'm satisfied anyway, especially because in the practice sessions we found some good solutions that give us a good pace even on used tyres. It will be an interesting race. On such a difficult track the RS-GP is performing well, so we are moving in the right direction. We still have a few things to try during the warmup session, especially the hard rear tyre option that we will evaluate”.

Ace Cafe London's "Ace Corner" stand and display will once again return and feature at the forthcoming, 6th annual "Iron Bikers", the race track based event held over the weekend 23rd & 24th April at Circuit Carole on the northern edge of Paris.

The event, with its special mix of machines from the 1950's to the 1980's, including classic bikes, old racing bikes, replica machines and cafe racers, plus unique and historic collections of 1970's motorcycles, gets over 300 machines roaring and racing on the track, together with club and the various make and marque stands and displays, trade stands and autojumble all located within the easy to get to circuit

This year Iron Bikers also plays host to the renown Joe Bar race team as well as a return of the "Food Truck Festival", with the best of the" new Parisien street cuisine", and along with the ever eclectic array of stands and displays by artist's, photographer's, tattooist's (and a barber!) there is the all-important, and open to all, live music Parc Ferme Party with the band ".The Flying Gaskets”

Bon Voyage... parking is free... see you there!

www.ironbikers.fr

For more info about Ace Cafe London and what's on, check out: www.ace-cafe-london.com

Firstly, we want to thank those people that completed the rally survey in March. We had a much bigger response to it than expected, which goes to show the continuing support from regular rally goers as well as increasing interest from bikers new to the rally scene. With the high level of response and suggestions, it may take some time to put actions in place to make Yorkshire MAG rallies even better but we are hoping to introduce some in 2016. At Farmyard Party, for example, we are providing some prepared tents for those wanting to travel light and putting some additional entertainment on the Friday afternoon so that you can start the party early.

Moving on - Into The Valley is now only a few weeks away. As you may have seen on our Facebook page, we have decided to put heaters on in the entertainment and bars areas so that you're kept warm on the spring evenings. We will also have Zoopa "the hot soup and goulash man" to help keep you warm with his ex-German Army field kitchen bike. And, of course, we have a fantastic line up of bands for evening entertainment and comedians for Saturday afternoon, full details of which are provided below. It's been a while since last year's rally season and so we are looking forward to catching up with friends around the camp-fire or over a few beers.

Don't forget our cut off dates for Into The Valley tickets, which are the 15th of April for postal bookings and the 24th for telephone and web bookings.

See you all on the 29th of April at Into The Valley.

No Cars, No Vans, No Pedestrians, No Excuses.