2021 MotoGP – Round 15 – COTA

Three is now a magic number for Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) on Saturdays, with a third, successive and stunning pole position at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas putting him in the perfect position to try and make the same true on Sunday.

Pulling out more than three-tenths at the top it makes Pecco only the second rider – after Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) – to start from pole in Texas, but he does have company from key Championship rival Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). The Frenchman is second once again to keep tabs on the Italian, with the aforementioned Sheriff of COTA, Marc Marquez, forced to settle for third – but it’s a first front row of the year as the eight-time World Champion continues his battle back to the front. Here is what they had to say…

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MotoGP Rider Quotes

Francesco Bagnaia – P1

“I’m thrilled because, at the beginning of this weekend, we were struggling a bit on this track. Then we went back to the Misano setup, and my feeling with the bike improved a lot. We have worked well, and we continued to make progress in every session. In FP4, I tried to follow Jack, who is proving to be very fast here in Austin, and that helped me a lot, so I thank him! Even though tomorrow won’t be an easy race, we’re ready to face this GP as we know that we can do well”.

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Fabio Quartararo – P2

“It’s great to be on the front row, but I’m struggling to make that extra step in qualifying with the soft tyres. We will try to figure out why. I’m so happy because I didn’t feel so great during the practice sessions, but I went for it during qualifying. It’s always great to start from the front row. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. Our pace isn’t looking so bad, and we will see which tyres we’ll use.”

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Marc Marquez – P3

“I am really happy with this front row because Qualifying has been one of my weak points this season. With the first tyre I felt OK and with the second tyre I found some traffic and I was on top of the time sheets so there was not much reason to push a lot. It’s my first front row of the season, which is strange to say but that’s how it is! With the used tyre I feel better than on the new tyre, our race pace is quite good. We will try to make another step in Warm Up and continue this direction.”

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Jorge Martín – P4

“I am happy, I didn’t hope to start from the second row tomorrow but here we are. Tomorrow will be really difficult, we will try to take another step forward and be with the front group from the start.”

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Takaaki Nakagami – P5

“Today, I’m quite happy with the result, P5 is good, the team are happy. They have done a great job throughout the weekend so far. We have good pace and starting from P5 means it’s easier to work out strategy for the race. As always, I’ll try to give my maximum performance and we’ll try to fight to be on the top positions.”

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Johann Zarco – P6

“I am very satisfied, a positive day for sure. I lowered my times compared to yesterday and I had no problems with my arm. Tomorrow will be a big challenge but we will give our best as always.”

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Alex Rins – P7

“I’ll start tomorrow’s race from the third row in seventh position, and we did a good job finding a stronger set-up. I also had time to try different tyre compounds and check which will be best for the race, and we worked well and improved. It was a bit of a shame that I couldn’t reach the second row on the grid, because I would’ve liked that. But I feel pretty confident from seventh as well – it’s the same position I qualified last time here in 2019. Now we just have to wait for the race, which I’m really looking forward to although I’m expecting it to be very demanding both physically and mentally.”

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Joan Mir – P8

“From the performance side, I’m really happy because we made a huge step. Even though we’re struggling to make one fast lap still, our overall pace is good. I’ve struggled a lot to find a nice feeling, because of the lack of stability, but I feel more confident about tomorrow’s race because my pace has improved. I would’ve liked to be a little faster in FP3 to get the direct passage to Q2, but I was feeling fine in Q1 and I got through comfortably. Obviously my bike stopped in FP4 and we’re still looking into the reasons behind that, but it didn’t really cost me in terms of my overall position today.”

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Luca Marini – P9

“I am very happy with the qualifying and the lap time, because it means we are doing well and we can see the results of our efforts at the Misano test. I feel better on the bike and I can ride the way I want to ride. In FP3 and FP4 we had some problems and maybe for the first time this season we have some doubts about the tyre choice for tomorrow. Our options are soft or medium on the rear, we will look at the data from the other Ducati and decide after the warm up. The team is doing a great job and I had fun today.”

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Jack Miller – P10

“I’m not happy at all with how my qualifying went this afternoon. The team is working really well: we’ve been fast all weekend, but unfortunately, in Q2, I couldn’t find the conditions (off the record he said he got another dud tyre from Michelin and that he was ‘fu*king sick of it’), to repeat what I’d done in the previous sessions. It won’t be an easy race, starting so far back, but I know I’m fast and have good potential. It will be important to get a good start to make up ground immediately and stay with the front guys”.

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Brad Binder – P11

“A challenging day in general. We had some issues this morning where I only got to do one good exit which was in FP3 and so in FP4 our plan went out the window and we were switching between bikes. Going into Q2 I hadn’t made a good lap through FP4 so the confidence wasn’t too high. I did my best and gave it my all. 11th is not where I want to be and I feel that we could have been higher up the grid but tomorrow is the race and it will do the job.”

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Pol Espargaro – P12

“Our first run in Qualifying wasn’t too bad, I was just assessing the bike after our crash and the feeling was there. In the second run, I misjudged the time I had left and I was in a group with Jack and Marc so didn’t have a chance to push with the last tyre. I missed my chance in Qualifying unfortunately. We still have a bit of feeling to find on the front end of the bike but this was not the limit in Qualifying. It’s going to be a very long and very physical race tomorrow, all we can do is put our head down and make the most of what happens. Turn 1 will also be a critical point.”

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Franco Morbidelli – P13

“It was a good qualifying. We kept our improvement curve going. We went better and better throughout the day. I’m happy because we’re improving every session. This is positive! This should be our aim. I’m learning more and more about the bike and we’re adapting it more and more to my style. It’s paying off. Today, I needed to pace myself a little bit because of the knee. Tomorrow will be a tough race, but the feeling is better than it was in Misano anyway, so this is really good. Let’s go forward, try to improve a bit more tomorrow morning, and then let’s see.”

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Andrea Dovizioso – P14

“It has been a bit better today, but I’m still not riding in the way that I need to. However, step-by-step I’m able to understand the bike a bit more. I am happy with today because I am getting closer to some of the other riders, but I think it will be hard to battle with them in the race tomorrow because I’m not as strong in that situation. It will be important to adapt to the bike because I want to battle with other riders. It’s not the strongest on the back straight, but it is what it is and at this moment I just have to use the bike to its best potential. I’m not completely doing that yet, so I need to focus on that tomorrow and see what happens in the race.”

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Álex Márquez – P15

“So, the second day and in the morning it was really quite difficult, but this afternoon we made a good step forward with the set-up of the bike and I am feeling much better. I am improving step-by-step on the MotoGP bike, it is harder than I expected, but in que Qualy we were close to Q2. We can’t be happy because we’re not in the position we want or we need to be, but we need to stay positive for tomorrow and keep taking steps forward.”

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Enea Bastianini – P16

“It was a difficult day. This morning we had a good start and I felt comfortable to do some good laps. This afternoon in qualifying I didn’t feel good on the bike. We need to understand what happened so we can work on it. Tomorrow we start a little bit behind, so it won’t be easy, but we’ll try to do the best we can.”

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Iker Lecuona – P17

“We made some good progress. During FP3 we improved a lot, in FP4 I struggled a bit more but we tried something on the base set-up to go better. It was not easy. In Qualifying I did my maximum. I know the race will be physically very hard tomorrow in these hot and humid conditions. We will see, what we can do.”

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Miguel Oliveira – P18

“A difficult qualifying after good Free Practice sessions. We had good pace but I couldn’t reproduce it in Q1 and crashing didn’t help. I had a lot of vibration and that was a big wall for our one-lap potential. It’s a shame because it does not reflect our work done this weekend or our speed but the race is tomorrow and hopefully we can progress a couple of positions and fight for a top ten.”

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Aleix Espargaro – P19

“This has certainly not been the best weekend for us so far. The RS-GP is competitive everywhere, but this asphalt that is in such bad condition really puts us in a rough spot. Not only do I not have the pace that I had been able to maintain until now, but as soon as I try to push, I risk crashing, like what happened today. I apologise to the entire team. They are already working hard to fix the bike for tomorrow. We’ll test a few things in the warm-up session as well to try to make the bike easier to ride and more stable. The track is the same for everyone, so it won’t be easy, but we’ll have to make a go of it and shoot for the best possible result.”

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Valentino Rossi – P20

“The crash in Q1 was a real shame because I did a good lap time with the first tyre, but with the second one I had the potential to improve and unfortunately I lost the front. I was stuck in traffic and there was a lot of confusion, so it wasn’t easy. My starting position means that tomorrow will be very difficult, plus my pace is not fantastic. I think that it will be a very demanding race, but we will try to make some overtakes and we will see what happens. Compared to yesterday we have improved our pace a lot and we were able to work on the race tyres. The choice is very open for the rear tyre; it will depend on the temperature and conditions tomorrow. We have some things to improve, to be stronger, for the race and we’ll see.”

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Danilo Petrucci – P21

“It was a very tough day. We tried our best but unfortunately we really struggled to find a good setup at this track. There is a long straight and especially tight corners that I can’t make as fast as I want. We improved the lap time compared to this morning but we are still quite far from the top. The race tomorrow will be hard but we definitively give our maximum in order to get the best possible result.”

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MotoGP Qualifying Report

Q1

Reigning Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was down in Q1 and looking for a way out, and for much of the session it seemed he’d head through fastest. But Luca Marini (Sky VR46 Avintia) had other ideas, and the rookie Italian put in a late lunge for the top to take over. Mir remained second to move through though, denying Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP).

Andrea Dovizioso (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was stringing together a good lap late on, but the Italian then got caught behind other riders and just missed out.

Valentino Rossi (Petronas Sprinta Racing) crashed, as did Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), riders ok.

Q2

After the first runs in Q2, it was the King of COTA on to retain the throne – certainly on Saturday – with Marc Marquez ahead of the chasing pack. But there was still some left in the locker for Quartararo and for Bagnaia, and the eight-time World Champion couldn’t quite better his previous best.

Pecco, however, could. The Italian put in an absolute stunner late on, laying it all out there on his second and final attempt at the top. A whole chunk of time up for most of the lap, the Italian crossed the line to take over on provisional pole by nearly half a second ahead of Marquez. Left to go were Quartararo and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team)…

Quartararo was up initially, but for Miller the attack never came. The Australian wasn’t able to replicate his scorching form from previous sessions, and he was out of the running after running out of time. What could El Diablo do? As the timings came up later in the lap, it wasn’t going to be enough, and Marquez hadn’t put a better effort together either. So, for the first time ever, someone other than the number 93 is on pole at COTA: Bagnaia.

The Grid

Bagnaia heads Quartararo as the top two once again lock out the top, now with Marquez alongside as the eight-time World Champion takes third. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), who had been behind Marquez when the Honda rider was on for provisional pole, stayed there so he’ll now head up Row 2 – as top Independent Team rider too.

It’s an all-Independent second row, in fact, with Takaaki Nakagami’s (LCR Honda Idemitsu) good weekend continuing in fifth and Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) taking P6, back towards the sharp end following his arm pump surgery ahead of the event.

2019 COTA winner Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) pipped reigning Champion and teammate Joan Mir to P7 as the Suzuki duo head up the third row, joined by Marini as the Q1 graduate continued his impressive form in Q2, taking ninth.

Miller is tenth and raring to push back through, with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) the last of those in Q2, in P11 and P12 respectively.

The top two in the Championship and the King of COTA head up the grid, with another horsepower rodeo just around the corner. Can Marquez make it seven from eight? Can Bagnaia become the first Ducati rider since Casey Stoner to win three on the bounce? Or will Quartararo take Yamaha’s first win in Texas?

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MotoGP Qualifying Results

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MotoGP World Championship Standings

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Moto2 Qualifying

Raul Fernandez came out on top in another Red Bull KTM Ajo qualifying duel at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas as the top two in the World Championship lineup P1 and P2 on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Points leader Gardner was 0.320 off Fernandez’ 2:08.979 as the rookie kept the upper hand on Saturday though, with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) earning a first front row start since the German GP in P3.

Moto2 Qualifying Results

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Moto3 Qualifying

Jaume Masia is back on top in Texas! The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider took his fourth career pole and second of the season at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, beating Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) to the top by a couple of tenths.

Jeremy Alcoba (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) completes the front row, just 0.003 off Foggia.

Moto3 Qualifying Results

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MotoGP weekend schedule
Times in AEDT

2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar

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Source: MCNews.com.au