Marquez’s ‘home’
Seven wins in 11 participations. This is the track record held by Marc Marquez on the Austin circuit during his MotoGP career. The Spanish champion is considered by everyone in the grid as the ‘master’ of the COTA circuit, even though in the last two editions of the Americas GP, both faced on a Ducati, the #93 never reached the checkered flag of Sunday’s race. Marquez indeed crashed both in 2024 – when he was racing for the Gresini team – and last year, on the official GP25 of the factory team.
Read more Bagnaia: «Good memories at Austin, a stimulus to get back on top»
On the eve of the Texas round we interviewed Carlo Pernat, with whom we chatted about this surprising start to the season in which Aprilia is taking the lion’s share with Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin – currently first and second in the championship – while Ducati and Marquez himself have been forced on the defensive and so far have had to focus mainly on limiting the damage. The common opinion in the paddock is that the true value of the forces at play will be seen from late April onwards, with the Spanish GP at Jerez. However, Pernat suggested to us that already the Austin race could provide a first interesting verdict regarding the Italian derby between Borgo Panigale and Noale.
Read more Bezzecchi: “Fantastic moment, but I’m not talking about the title. There are still 40 races to go…”
First turning point of the season
“I think a first litmus test could already come this Sunday at Austin – Pernat said to the microphones of FormulaPassion.it – because Austin is Marc Marquez’s circuit. Let’s forget that he crashed last year, but he has always won when he raced there, and by a lot. So let’s see what happens: if he were to return to winning by putting a couple of seconds on everyone else, then you could start thinking again that it’s the same story as last year, even if physically [Marquez] is not in good shape”. The other possible scenario, however, according to Pernat, is that of atwo-pronged Aprilia capable of bothering the red #93: “If instead even at Austin [Marquez] finds himself battling closely with Bezzecchi and Martin, then you can start thinking that there really is a great battle for the entire championship, which is what we would like“.
