MotoGP riders reflect on the thrills and spills of Texas – Jack Miller extended cut

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round Three – Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas
Circuit Of The Americas – MotoGP riders reflect

Maverick Vinales – P1

“I made a lot of sacrifices to get here and it is all finally paying off. This shows us that you can never give up. You must have faith in your own abilities and keep growing. This is a historic achievement and I knew from the first day I arrived with Aprilia that I would be able to accomplish it. I wish to thank everyone who gave me the strength to continue, the folks in Noale, my team, and my family.”

Pedro Acosta – P2

“I had not enjoyed a race like this one in years, since Moto3! You can not imagine how much fun I had today on track, when I was overtaking riders, when Jorge Martin passed me and then I recovered the position, touching the other riders, etc. It was a super nice race until Maverick Vinales passed me, but he was a rocket today, I am super happy for him. Yesterday I was a bit disappointed with our tyres mistake, but in the end I am really happy that we made that mistake because we fixed it today. This morning in the warm up, we decided to go with medium, and then in the race, when I led, I was trying to manage my tyres, not to make a stupid mistake or anything crazy. I am also really happy to have been able to fight with the top guys like Marc Marquez, I am learning a lot from him and I enjoyed being with him until he crashed. I am super grateful to be with Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 because they believe in me so hard, but also the people around me and Pierer Mobility because they are giving everything to provide me with the best package possible.  It was a great weekend, thanks everyone.”

Enea Bastianini – P3

“It was a great race and I’m super happy for the podium, especially after a so and so weekend. I got a good start and wanted to stay with the frontrunners, but I ended up losing some positions also due to the fact that I struggled a bit with the front-end while riding within the pack. In the second part – which is kind of my specialty – I managed to bounce back and be fast, which allowed me to finish on the podium. I would have obviously liked to win, but we cannot be but happy with this result.”

Jorge Martin – P4

“Consistency, work and a cool head on a complicated weekend. See you in Jerez.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P5

“I was feeling good in the first six laps and was battling with the front group, but then I started to experience some issues. The bike was moving a lot at the front and I was feeling some vibrations at the rear, so I had to ride defensively. It was hard, but we need to stay calm, understand the situation and try to finish every race in the best possible position. When the right time comes, we will attack.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P6

“I’m happy because I didn’t finish the race yesterday and I had no data to start from. I didn’t get a bad start, I lost a few positions in the first corner, but the pace was very good and I managed to recover. I return home with a nice P6, the best result so far with the new Team. I have positive feelings for the race in Jerez, I’m still struggling a bit with the front, but my technicians are working as best they can on this aspect.”

Aleix Espargaro – P7

“With my race pace, I would have been able to stay in the top five but, unfortunately, the contact at the start relegated me all the way back to fourteenth place. Despite not being competitive enough, I’m still satisfied with the result. The bike works well and Maverick demonstrated that. I’m happy for him and for Aprilia – we deserved this. I think that this will be an outstanding year for Aprilia and we will certainly have fun.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P8

“Not a bad race, but I’m not where I want to be. There are positive signs, the pace isn’t bad, the whole Team is doing a great job. Unfortunately starting from P10, on a track with a first corner of this type, doesn’t help and I lost a lot of ground in this aspect of the race here to avoid contacts with other riders. I don’t have a pace comparable to the top guys but we are closer. The real problem today is no longer entering the corner, but let turning the bike. I still have to find the right balance.”

Brad Binder – P9

“A tricky race for us even though I got the best launch of my life! I think that was the highlight. In Turn 1 I tried to rail the outside to gain as many positions as I could and with the mess between riders there I unfortunately broke my rear wing and front left wing. 20 laps around COTA with that missing wasn’t much fun. I could finally find a rhythm between that situation and my tyre and make some pace. A difficult weekend and one to forget although I think our GP here looks a lot worse than it was!”

Raul Fernandez – P10

“I’m very happy to end this race in a good way. First of all, I’m back feeling very comfortable on the bike, which is the key to go fast. It was an incredible day, a very special one for me and my group to start my 100th GP at the team’s home track. We know that it’s very important to be in a good position in the first two laps in MotoGP and at the beginning of the race, I was almost at the back of the field. It was difficult to manage that, tricky to conserve the front tyre with the slipstream. I was pushing a lot and trying to overtake the other riders so a top 10 is a good result for us but, of course, we want more and we know there is a margin. We saw that our bike is working very well but, we take it step by step. After the first two disappointing rounds of this season, we are in the points now and this is great.”

Miguel Oliveira – P11

“Today was alright. I had the feeling that the result could have been very different but I got caught up with Morbidelli. making me lose a lot of time and like four or five places. I had to recover from that after he had crashed and his bike went across the track. It was a split second decision whether I go inside and risk hitting him or go to the outside and try to avoid him, as his bike was coming towards me. That was the incident that really destroyed my chances to do better. The pace was not bad, I closed back to the group and started to overtake as soon as I could without losing much time. In the last three laps, I was already really tired and I couldn’t attack Raul to make it a top 10 finish.”

Fabio Quartararo – P12

“I went straight, unfortunately, on the first lap in Turn 12. I lost a few positions but, to be honest, I expected worse. My pace was not good, but the drop of the tyre was not too bad. Maybe we could have managed a bit better position, but I think this weekend was all about trying many things, and we mainly focused on improving the bike. I started the Race with a bike I didn’t try before. This weekend was great because we basically tried many, many things. I think it’s great for our experience. We know what we need, and having a clear direction to work towards is something positive.”

Jack Miller – P13

“Well, another challenging round of MotoGP here for Round 3 in Austin, we showed some immense speed throughout the weekend which was promising, however we weren’t able to convert that into a result.  The Texas GP is always one of my favourites; I don’t shy away from the opportunity to throw on a cowboy hat and talk with a bit of that Texas Twang. It’s also a round to tweak the kit a little, and thanks to Alpinestars and Dirt Studios, we were running a pretty trick setup this year.

“On track, the feeling was decent from the get-go for the practice sessions – we dialed in the bike a little more each time with some adjustments. We were able to translate that to topping the timesheets in Q1 which was nice, which took me into Q2.

“11th in Q2 – not a great deal to write home about but got off to a good launch in the Sprint Race; the RC16 really hooks up off the line. Ended up with 7th in that one, so we fought our way up the field which was positive, although I still felt like we left a little out on the table.

“Got off to another great start in the Feature Race, and was mixing it up with the frontrunners there for a good handful of laps – up until lap seven actually and then ran into some unexpected, unforeseen issues. The rear just started to come around on me, and I just had absolutely no grip, and that was about all she wrote. Was forced to ride pretty defensively after that, and ultimately crossed the line in 13th.

“Disappointing because I felt good during those seven laps, the bike was working great, better than the day before, right up until it wasn’t. We have a fantastic package, I was able to fight up there with the boys, but it was an unforeseen issue today, and it is what it is.

“We’re working, pushing really hard with myself and the team, and we can see that the potential is right there, it’s really about just putting those last pieces of the puzzle together.

“Onto Jerez next, we’ll get stuck in, put our heads down and try to come out stronger in Spain.”

Augusto Fernandez – P14

“It was a really tough race, we struggled a lot to maintain a good enough pace, so we have a lot to analyse after this round. Of course we scored points, but it was not good enough for us. Pedro Acosta did an unbelievable race, and his tyres choice was better than ours, so we need to study his data and try to help ourselves because he is doing an incredible job with the bike. The weekend was a bit better than the two first ones in general, I felt better during the sessions, but in the race, I could not hold the pace. Anyway, I am looking forward to going to Jerez which is a track that I know and enjoy a lot, and hopefully we will be able to improve ourselves. Then we will have an important test and I am counting on that one to make key improvements, maybe we can inspire ourselves from Pedro’s bike.”

Alex Marquez – P15

“We started well and avoid any drama at turn one. I was managing the rear tyre well, as planned, but then I made a small mistake at turn one. We’re back riding as we know and we’re leaving Austin with a positive feeling: with a good qualifying, we would be talking on completely different terms today.”

Luca Marini – P16

“I tried my best and fought for the last point hard. It was good to finish the race to get more data to the engineers. At this moment we are not in the correct place, and I think this is an important weekend for us. Now we can compare the data to this weekend and before and I hope that it can help us to keep improving. I think the direction is quite clear, we just need time.”

Marc Marquez – DNF

“I’m satisfied because we were among the protagonists, we were fast and gave it all. Unfortunately we had a front-end problem under braking, I wasn’t comfortable and I struggled. The crash came because of that and there was nothing I could do. We’re working well and I’m sure we’ll fix this issue as we did for the others that came up before, and we’ll try again in Jerez.”

Alex Rins – DNF

“The start was pretty good. It was quite nice. We recovered like eight positions on the first lap. But today in the Warm Up we tried like a completely different bike to understand if that is the way that we need to go. In Warm Up we only have 10 minutes for laps, and I didn’t feel so much difference compared to yesterday. Maybe it even felt a little bit better releasing the brakes in the slow corners that we were struggling in yesterday. So, we decided to keep the set-up for the Race, and honestly it was a big mistake. Our bike usually is quite heavy on the direction changes. In the Race, with this set-up, it was even worse, so I was losing time there. Then I made a small mistake in corner 15. There are some bumps on the track, and maybe I went over one bump with a little bit more pressure on the front brake, and then I lost the front.”

Joan Mir – DNF

“A tough end to a tough weekend. We didn’t start the race itself super well so we were quite far behind but then I found my pace and I was able to get ahead of the other Honda riders. I started closing in on the group ahead but unfortunately, I lost the rear at Turn Six and crashed. Not much more to add. Everyone is working, we keep trying and pick ourselves up to do it all again at the next race.”

Takaaki Nakagami – DNF

“It’s been a difficult weekend overall; we haven’t been able to do the job we wanted. There are many things to be analyzed as we are struggling a lot. We’ll try to find a solution ahead of the next Grand Prix”.

Johann Zarco – DNF

“Already on the first lap, I felt some vibrations on the rear side of the bike, and although I tried my best, the situation worsened, and I started losing time, so I had to retire. We must understand what happened and see how to improve for the next race”.

Team Managers

Nicolas Goyon – Tech3 GASGAS Team Manager

“What an unbelievable race from Pedro Acosta today! If I am being honest, we are starting to miss words to describe his performance, it is only the third weekend of the year and we already count two podiums and a front row start. We just lived an incredible weekend. After the sprint, he was a little bit disappointed, so today we decided to gamble a bit and try a different option on the rear tyre. I have to say that Pedro was really strong in his decision, and it shows the level of maturity he already has, so we are all admiring the human being and the great rider he is. P2 on the grid, P4 in the sprint, P2 in the main race. Apparently, these are the numbers when you work with Pedro Acosta, and it is amazing! With Augusto Fernandez, we decided to work in a different way this weekend as we tried to be a bit more conservative with the bike, and I would also like to encourage him to keep working in this way. Even if we did not see the benefits in the results, the weekend felt better, and two points are a good reward. Let’s keep working like this, and I am sure that it will pay off soon. Congratulations to the team for a great weekend, let’s pack and head to Jerez in two weeks as we begin our European tour.

Pablo Nieto – Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team Manager

“It was a very complicated race, also considering the Sprint yesterday, but overall we must be satisfied with the progress made over the weekend and the work done. Fabio was the protagonist of a good race, considering that we didn’t have the data from Saturday. Marco made a good recovery after a less than perfect start. Having brought both riders into the Top10 is positive, we are the best Ducati Desmosedici GP23 at the finishing line and we need to continue in this direction for Jerez.”

Francesco Guidotti – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager

“We knew this GP would be tricky! Jack started really well but lost feeling and dropped. The first half of the race was amazing, fighting in the leading group and we need to analyze what happened. Brad got away really well from the sixth row but had that contact in the first corner and lost some bodywork there. He didn’t have the best racing conditions but recovered positions and brought some points home. We’re looking forward to Jerez because there are a lot of signs that the bike is working well – we saw it with Pedro [Acosta] today – and we believe it will perform at a high level again there.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Trackhouse Team Manager

“I’m very happy with the top 10 result of Raul. I think both our boys didn’t have the easiest weekend as starting in the middle of the grid is always quite tough and being in 16th and 17th after the first lap, was not fantastic. Then, to finish 10th and 11th, I think we can be happy and proud. The feeling on the bike improved a lot and there is more to come because we know the direction now, also with the experience of Maverick and the results he scored during the weekend. Congratulations to him, he did a great race! We are heading in a good direction; good points for the team and consistency. Raul was nearly last after the first lap and came back to 10th, so he was strong. Miguel had a great pace behind Aleix (Espargaro), but then Franco (Morbidelli) crashed and he followed the line of the bike and nearly hit it, so he lost three seconds. That’s unfortunate, but that’s racing. He came back, but had no tire left in the end. Both were really tired, the track is very physical but we will have a good break now for a week and then head to our next home GP – the one for Raul – in Jerez.”

Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Team Principal

“First of all, congratulations to Maverick! It’s nice to see an Aprilia on top. This gives us a lot of motivation and shows that we have a great bike. Regarding Trackhouse, I’m happy about this weekend because we could see progress and improvements on both sides. I think we were able to give both Raul and Miguel a good bike that they were comfortable with. This is a step forward compared to before and that’s why we scored points and now we have to continue to progress form here. I’m happy because I think and I hope this is the beginning to get more and more into the fight. It was also nice to see Raul fighting with the big boys in the Sprint yesterday and I’m sure that both Miguel and Raul can be there, if we continue to support them. So, let’s continue to work and try to get them as close as possible.”

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“We can’t be satisfied with today’s results – there is clearly work to do – but we are sparing no effort. It was a tough race weekend overall but also a productive one. We have tried new things, and this data will help us as we prepare to make changes for the future. It’s a shame that Fabio fell back to 20th in the opening lap, because his tyre life was not bad. Álex on the other hand had a great start but lacked race pace due to an experimental set-up he was trying. Now that we have gained further insights, we will regroup and set our strategy for Jerez in two weeks’ time.”

MotoGP COTA Race Results

COTA MotoGP records broken

All time circuit lap record: 2:00.864, by Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), which improved on the previous record of 2:01.892 by more than a second.

Race lap record: 2:02.891, also set by Maverick Viñales, who achieved this exceptional time during the second half of the Grand Prix, on the 14th lap.

Sprint race duration: 20:27.825. This is more than seven seconds faster than in 2023 (20:35.270), and represents an improvement of seven-tenths of a second per lap, on average.

Grand Prix race duration: 41:09.503, which is an improvement of more than 5 seconds.

COTA MotoGP Top Speeds Across Weekend

MotoGP Championship Standings

2024 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar (Updated)