The MotoGP circus is heading to the Circuit of the Americas this weekend for the second round of the 2013 MotoGP championship and five riders regular riders (Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa) already have a big head start on the rest of the field having taken part in a private test last month, learning the circuit and three teams (Repsol Honda, Yamaha and LCR Honda) gathering important information on set-up.
Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies also rode the circuit for Ducati’s USA launch promotion of the 1199 Panigale which is not exactly the same thing, but at least they got a better look at the difficult circuit than the rest of the riders, and wildcard CRT rider Attack Performance Kawasaki’s Blake Young also tested at the Texas circuit and Colin Edwards gave a journalist a tour of the circuit with a Yamaha sportbike.
The Austin test was clearly dominated by Marc Marquez, while the Yamaha riders suffered the circuit, but they only had a skeleton crew and one bike each.
Here’s what some of the riders said previewing the difficult challenge that they will face this weekend and the above video is how COTA is promoting the event.
Jorge Lorenzo: “Now we have to change our mindset, we go to the USA and we visit a completely different track, not just the layout but also for the asphalt, the climate and some different circumstances.
The Austin track has a very long straight and several corners in first gear where you are need good acceleration and traction.
There we will have to work really hard from the first session to cut away the distance to our competitors.
Anyway, I keep my confidence that we can also make a good result there.
I want to win at Austin and that’s my mentality although I know in the USA it will be much more complicated.
” Valentino Rossi:“Austin will not be an easy race, but for sure the podium in Qatar is giving us extra motivation.
We have done a great job there and we can go to Austin with some more certainty.
Our competitors will be very strong but our goal will be to bring home points.
I am confident, I really like the track and my first impression, when we tested there, was that the circuit is beautiful.
The track lay-out is very special: there is some downhill and uphill and the first braking zone is very technical.
For me turn two is the best though and after when you enter into the chicane.
The straight is very long, which is good for overtaking.
I really look forward to racing at COTA.
”Marc Marquez:“To arrive on the podium in my first race was a dream come true, but now we must face the reality and focus on the job at hand.
I am looking forward to going to Austin, it will be interesting as we have already been there testing and we found a good base set up.
We will see because it will be a different scenario with more rubber on the track and the conditions will change.
We will concentrate on our work and our own agenda to prepare ourselves in the best possible way for the race.
”Dani Pedrosa:“Qatar was not the start we expected, but I know what the issue was so it’s clear for the next race.
We were in Austin just over a month ago and I’m sure this will be useful for us as we have a base setting, there are a lot of tight corners at this track and the pace changes from section to section.
However, the track will be quite different with so many more bikes there and much more rubber laid down, so I hope the bike will still work well.
”Andrea Dovizioso:“I haven’t been to the Circuit of the Americas, but from the video it looks like a really big and nice track, and it also looks really difficult.
Unfortunately, we didn’t test there like some of the other guys, so it will be a problem for us in the beginning.
Anyway, I’m really excited for us to be riding on a new track.
”Nicky Hayden:“Having three GPs in my home country almost seems like a dream to me, and the Circuit of the Americas is really a great track that’s nice, safe and new, with great facilities.
I’ve been around it on a street bike, so I know the layout, although it will obviously be much different on a MotoGP bike.
The track has a little bit of everything, and it’s definitely not easy.
It’s really long, quite wide, and very technical, with some very particular corners that have open entries – often blind – and tight exits.
I like a good challenge, and this track definitely offers one.
Hopefully the American fans will come out and support the race and set up a nice trend for the next two American rounds.
”Alvaro Bautista: “The 2013 season has started really well.
I am happy even though we had a few problems with the front in Qatar.
It forced us to use the soft tyre because I had more confidence with it but we lost stability under braking.
I made a good start and tried my best to stay with the guys at the front but it got to the point where I was taking too many risks and it was better to make sure of a solid position.
It was an important sixth place, my best result in MotoGP in Qatar and that gives us optimism for the future.
The next round in Austin will be a new experience for almost all of us.
They say it is a technical and demanding circuit and I am looking forward to getting on with the job of learning it and finding a setting that will allow me to fully exploit the potential of the RC213V.
The level of competition is very high but I am confident that if we do our job right then we can be even more competitive than we were in Qatar.
Myself and the team are determined to keep working until we show our best form.
”Bryan Staring “I am still disappointed with the way my debut went in Qatar but I also know that it is all part of the process of picking up experience in a completely new category.
We will learn from it and try to make up for our disappointment this weekend in Austin.
It is a new track for all the CRT guys so we will start out on a more level playing field.
I have seen some footage of the track and it looks awesome.
I am looking forward to seeing it for myself and I am sure that the Circuit of The Americas will be fun to ride.
This will also be my first ever trip to the USA so overall there is a lot to look forward to as we try to put Qatar behind us and focus on producing a positive performance in Austin.
”Aleix Espargaro:“We’ll take it easy in first practice.
Hopefully we will pick up where we left off in Qatar – I’m very satisfied with the manner in which we started the new season.
The only real thing we could have done better was the start.
I also believe we need to work on full tanks in order to match the pace we managed in pre-season testing.
”Randy de Puniet:“All of the CRT riders will start from zero, so it’s the same for us all.
It’s bound to be an exciting weekend.
In Qatar we started off a little lost, strugging to find a good feeling with the bike, but we ultimately corrected the situation.
Only a small technical problem prevented us from fighting Aleix until the last lap.
Hopefully this weekend we can get back into the fight for being the best CRT rider.
”Claudio Corti:“I always look forward to going to a new circuit, it’s like entering into a brand new playground when you are a little kid! I expect it to be a tough weekend since we have no data on this new track, but with the experience from Qatar I go into this race cool headed and confident about the team´s potential and my own.
”Colin Edwards:“I´m really excited about the Austin GP, it will be the first GP I´ve ever driven to, which is awesome! Asfar as expanding the audience we´ve had one MotoGP out west side, one on the east side and now we get to have one south.
I´ve got a lot of friends, a lot of family coming and I am looking forward to it.
It should be good!”
