Sometimes, this sport can seem entirely random, as if it is intentionally making things difficult for those of us trying to make sense of it. Occasionally, a race result will come about that frustrates me, for the sheer unbelievable nature of it or simply how far-fetched it seems compared to the predicted outcome. And every now and again, it delivers an absolute gem, something so pure and golden and brilliant you can’t help but feel joy after watching along.
I can’t imagine there are many people who didn’t at least crack a smile when Alex Rins crossed the finish line in first place on Sunday in Texas. The Spaniard took his first win on board a Honda at a track he absolutely adores, somewhere he had already won at in Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP. It was a confident race, one where he had the weight of being an outside favourite pre-race and rose to challenge beautifully. Most of all, it was a showing of sheer strength and talent from a rider many had already written off for this year.
Rins retains his position as one of just three riders to win a MotoGP race in Texas – no, the sprint doesn’t count towards this stat – and the first to do it on two different bikes. Despite Marc Marquez being absent, Honda was still able to take their eighth win in ten starts at this track, though Rins’ compatriots didn’t exactly aid him in this quest. Rins has cemented himself as a COTA specialist, perhaps not to the degree of Marc Marquez but certainly just as formidable when we revisit this circuit in future years.
How did he do it? The answer comes in part due to how the sprint played out. Starting from pole, Pecco Bagnaia shot to the front early and performed a vanishing act, disappearing several seconds up the road and leaving the other riders for dust. It was clear that despite the nature of sprints, Bagnaia simply had the pace to outrun his opponents, and Rins was left to contend with Jorge Martin and Aleix Espargaro for the final podium positions. Without anyone directly behind him applying pressure, Bagnaia’s imperious speed on board his factory Ducati looked to be too much for the rest of the grid.
So the game plan for anyone with hopes of a Sunday victory was simple: keep on Bagnaia’s tail, don’t let him escape, and hope you can force a mistake from the reigning champion. The Italian has been known to falter when consistent pressure is applied to him, though his form in the second half of 2022 did much to remedy that notion. His win in the sprint gave him a lot of confidence about his chances in the feature race, and he certainly had the bike to win, so what other option was there but to hope he slipped up?
Of course, that’s exactly what happened. With the Honda of Rins hounding him lap after lap, Bagnaia succumbed to the pressure and crashed out of first place in a moment that had echoes of last year’s Le Mans showdown. There was simply no opportunity to ride comfortably; the track had been throwing people off all weekend thanks to its bumpy and uneven surface, and the threat of a pass from Rins added to the nervous energy coming from Bagnaia. The reigning champion made his second big mistake in two weeks, throwing at least 20 points away in the process.
Gifted the lead of the race, Rins turned his attention to the riders behind him, who had themselves been dropping like flies. Jorge Martin took Alex Marquez out in a bout of friendly fire on the first lap, while Aleix Espargaro joined the DNF list less than a minute later. Jack Miller crashed out of the podium running early on, while Raul Fernandez retired his Aprilia. This left a chasing pack that was rather spread out, but lead by an unexpected pairing: Fabio Quartararo and Luca Marini.
I suppose it’s not fair on either rider to say that their being in a podium position is surprising, but neither of them has been shocking the world in the opening rounds. Quartararo has been punishing himself all year trying to find strengths on his underpowered Yamaha and was yet to take his first podium of the season, and Marini had never stood on a feature race podium before. Quartararo in particular was an unpredicted Sunday success, after he crashed out of the sprint on Saturday trying to keep pace with the wall of Ducatis around him.
The Frenchman tried to hold off Marini’s onslaught but eventually conceded second down the lengthy back straight, and Marini set off trying to hunt Rins down. It was a valiant effort, but ultimately pointless; upon seeing a Ducati rider’s name on his pit board, Rins simply upped his pace and gapped the riders behind him even further. With several seconds in hand, there was simply no way for either podium contender to chase him down. The Honda rider had pulled off a master stroke.
Combined with his second place finish in the sprint, Rins has launched himself into third in the standings, breaking up the Ducati domination from the first two rounds. This was LCR’s 100th podium, Honda’s first win since 2021, and the first Honda win for a non-Marquez rider since Cal Crutchlow back in 2018. On a bike that most people agreed was the worst on the grid, the Spaniard shocked the world and asserted himself as an heir to the COTA throne. Only the legendary Marc Marquez himself has a better record here.
Some shout-outs to other riders: Maverick Vinales took a sterling fourth place after an appalling start, which is basically the story of his career up until this point. Given his incredible late-race pace and where he started on the grid, if he had been anywhere higher up on the first lap he would have been a contender for the podium. Similarly, satellite counterpart Miguel Oliveira had a sterling return to racing with a fifth place that proved he still has strong form, but missing out on a placement in Q2 cost the Portugese man severely. If he can fix his position on the starting grid he’ll be back on the podium in no time.
If the Aprilias were big winners here – and that’s a stretch given only two of them finished the race, with ride height device malfunctions ruling the other two out – then KTM were the big losers. Brad Binder made a solid recovery in the sprint but bailed out of the running in the feature race, picking the bike back up and limping home to 13th. With Miller crashing out of a podium position in the opening stages and replacement rider Jonas Folger having a muted return to racing, the real hero of the weekend for the Austrian brand was actually Augusto Fernandez, who continues to pick up solid points each weekend as he learns the ropes of the MotoGP class in his rookie season.
It may not sound like Augusto is tearing up the world of MotoGP on paper, but remember that one season prior the two KTM rookies had trouble getting into the points on their good days. Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner came into this class full of confidence after their Moto2 performances and struggled to deliver at all, and Augusto’s approach of just working meticulously to learn and improve is already putting him in better stead. The Spaniard is ahead of several former world champions in the current standings, and has outscored both Raul and Remy’s points totals from last season. I expect him to only get stronger from here.
Now, onto the important question: what does all this mean for the championship at large? The answer is likely to be very little, come the final reckoning in Valencia. So far this season we’ve raced at a death-trap rollercoaster in Portimao, an unused and rainy Argentina, and a bumpy and physically strenuous COTA. These are not circuits that riders are hugely familiar with, and they do not reflect the conditions the grid will face for the remainder of the season. If Qatar had remained the opening race of the season then we would have had the four most unusual circuits on the modern day calendar in the opening four rounds.
The point I’m trying to make here is that there’s been no chance for consistency so far this season. The conditions of each track we’ve visited have favoured different riders, different bikes, different setups. These have been difficult weekends that have challenged the riders physically, and the injury toll has been high as a result. The next leg of the championship – Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello, Sachsenring and Assen – will give us a better idea of where riders really stand. These are familiar tracks, well known to even the Moto3 rookies, and will provide a clearer base for the remainder of the season.
These opening races were about survival more than anything else. Some have managed this better than others, but the championship is still tight enough that it is very much game on for each and every rider. The grid gets one week to consider what went right or wrong in Texas, and then we do this dance all over again in Jerez.
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