The first corner after the start – always a huge challenge for the pilots with a lot of crowds. The driver, who was pushed far out here on the first lap of the Grand Prix of Texas 2024, was eliminated, but in the end he was right at the front. Although in a promising position and briefly even in the lead, it was ultimately not Gresini Ducati’s new signing Marc Marquez.

Viñales double victory – embarrassment for Bagnaia and Binder

While Maverick Viñales delivered his masterpiece at the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, there was only one defeated man who was still happy, at least on Sunday. It speaks for the best of modern times that, despite a fall in the full-distance race, he didn’t appear contrite, but rather highlighted the positive aspects of the third lap. Marc Marquez was the best Ducati rider again for the second time on Saturday in the fifth round of this season with second place and his critics are now unlikely to be taken seriously anymore. As is well known, this also includes KTM racing director Pit Beirer, who shortly before the start of the season saw the Catalan well behind the best established factory riders and Ducati private pilots of the Italian brand for a long time. The former motocross man currently has completely different problems and these include in particular the miserable performance of Brad Binder, who was second in the World Championship before Austin, as well as the modest results of Jack Miller in the KTM factory team. Only Pedro Acosta from the GasGas KTM customer team knew how to impress once again in Texas. However, Francesco Bagnaia perhaps suffered the worst after he was severely beaten twice in the USA.

Maverick Viñales after perhaps the most important triumph of his already long career. Since a disappointing start for him and Aprilia team-mate Aleix Espargaró in Losail (Qatar), he would have been the best of all without his bad luck at the Portuguese GP and despite this failure he is already in third place in the World Championship after round three.

Maverick’s entry into the history books

In contrast to Ducati figurehead Bagnaia, who performed similarly poorly in Austin as last year, Viñales’ performance cannot be overstated. After his victories for Suzuki (2016 in Silverstone), Yamaha (he won seven races from 2017 in Qatar to 2020 in Misano) and now Aprilia in Texas, the Spaniard became the first pilot in history to be on top of the podium on three different makes. The headstrong Catalan from Figueres started the 125cc World Championship in the 2011 season as a rookie and came third in the World Championship. The following year, a scandal overshadowed the first Moto3 year in history when he simply left Sepang after a dispute with his team without even taking part in the Malaysian Grand Prix. It wasn’t until 2013 that he won the world championship title and then immediately moved up to Moto2, where he won four races and then received the chance of a MotoGP factory contract from Suzuki. After his first Grand Prix victory in the premier class in 2016, he moved to Yamaha, where he was given an early, dishonorable discharge in 2021. Frustrated by his top speed disadvantages, Viñales intentionally over-revved his engine several times in Spielberg and thereby risked engine damage. The “enfant terrible” of MotoGP then found a new employer in Aprilia and after a long period of getting used to it, the Catalan now really got going for the first time.

In contrast to WorldSBK, champagne is splashed during the MotoGP sprint race because there is no further race on the program on the same day. Pramac Ducati figurehead and World Championship leader Jorge Martin missed the podium at the USA GP, but he still had his arch-rival “Pecco” Bagnaia under control throughout the weekend.

The many flops of the Austin weekend

Despite finishing in the top ten twice, Bagnaia has to be mentioned first. With the exception of his Grand Prix victory in Qatar, the defending champion has not been able to convince so far. His stubborn and absolutely pointless action at the Portuguese GP, when he caused himself and Marc Marquez to crash, is just one of the Ducati factory rider’s negative chapters in this short season. What’s particularly bad for “Pecco” is that, in addition to arch-rival Jorge Martin, teammate Enea “la Bestia” Bastianini is now in new top form and has already faced him several times in the sun. Jack Miller, who is increasingly stealing the show from KTM’s MotoGP rookie Pedro Acosta, also has a similar problem. Initially in P3 in the Texas GP, the Australian fell further and further back from the halfway point of the race onwards, ultimately even missing out on the top ten by a significant margin with 13th place. It was all the more annoying for KTM that his factory team colleague Binder wasn’t doing much better and he only had to return to Europe with 9 points, meaning the South African fell a whole 4 places back in the interim rankings. However, things went worst for Honda, with three retirements and Marini in last place in both races. The US GP didn’t go much better for Yamaha, with Quartararo’s only points finish being twelfth. However, he will definitely be able to be at the forefront again as soon as Yamaha can catch up with the competition. Whether Alex Marquez, Augusto Fernandez and the two Aprilia private drivers Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira will be able to do this currently seems rather questionable.

A dense crowd in turn one with the three Ducati riders Jorge Martin (top left), Marc Marquez (middle) and Enea Bastianini (far right) at the front. After the man in light blue with the number 93 was briefly in the lead at half-time, Marquez was eliminated due to a fall. But despite his crash, Marc also saw the positives afterwards because, according to his own statement, he was able to be at the forefront for the first time in Austin.

The best MotoGP riders in Texas

In addition to the winner Viñales, Bastianini is also one of the top acts on the USA trip with P3, who is now even in third place in the interim rankings. While the KTM factory team almost failed in Austin, Acosta shone even more and, after finishing fourth the day before, took second place in the full distance sprint on Sunday and thus the best result in the premier class. The rookie, who is not yet 20 years old, is currently the best KTM pilot, although Brad Binder should not be written off prematurely as he is only 5 points behind. With second place in the sprint race, Marc Marquez was once again the best Ducati rider and at the same time the only private rider on last year’s machine to reach the front. His brother Alex, Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi can only dream of that at the moment. However, the latter two have so far failed, especially in the Tissot Sprint Race, while over the full distance, with one exception (Marco in Qatar), they have always finished solidly in the top ten. This means that, like Aprilia Wersks pilot Aleix Espargaró, they are among the promising challengers, at least for the next races.

Pedro Acosta on the GasGas KTM pulled the coals out of the fire for the Austrians after the two Red Bull KTM factory riders Binder and Miller disappointed badly this time. If the 19-year-old Spaniard continues like this, those responsible will probably have to promote him to the factory team next season. You can imagine what will happen to Jack Miller, who is increasingly weak.

Before returning to Europe – who are the favorites for Jerez?

Despite two second places behind his then Monster Energy Yamaha teammate Quartararo in the 2020 season, Viñales is not necessarily one of the top favorites after modest results in Andalusia since then. But in addition to last year’s winner Bagnaia (he also won the year after 2022), the KTM factory riders Binder and Miller, as well as rookie Acosta and Aleix Espargaró, you still have to take Maverick into account. Actually, Fabio Quartararo would also be one of them, but the Yamaha M1 currently doesn’t seem to have the desired impact so that the fast Frenchman can seriously fight for victory. This question doesn’t even arise with his compatriot Johann Zarco. Although he wasn’t the fastest Honda driver for the first time on Saturday, the man from Cannes has always been a losing battle against the other competitors. Jorge Martin has not experienced these problems since he started the 2021 season on the Pramac factory Ducati instead of for his previous team KTM. However, the Madrilenian is one of the question marks in Jerez de la Frontera, although a clear upward trend was observed last year with two fourth places.

A dance performance by Marc Marquez, the superstar and 6-time MotoGP world champion, who voluntarily became a private pilot so that he could be at the front again on a Ducati. Although the factory bike from 2023 is not nearly as competitive as last year’s model, Marc is immediately one of the best again. He has already won three times in Andalusia and is the only Ducati private rider who can currently keep up with the front runners. You can’t ignore him in the fourth round.

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