MotoGP heads to Austin this weekend for Round 3 at COTA, March 27 to 29. Marco Bezzecchi leads the championship but finished just sixth at COTA last year. Marc Marquez has won there eight times, including Sprints, and arrives 22 points off the lead. Pedro Acosta has already flagged the two long straights as a concern for KTM. Aprilia versus Ducati. The gloves are off.
Fifteen months. That is roughly how long it has been since Jorge Martin looked like the rider who took MotoGP apart in 2024 and won the world title in Valencia. Fifteen months of crashes, injuries, surgeries, broken bones, and a 2025 season that stripped him of confidence and very nearly stripped him of his career. In Goiania on Sunday, a…
Jorge Martin qualified fifth in Brazil, took third in the Sprint and then delivered his finest Aprilia performance yet in Sunday’s Grand Prix. A stunning double overtake on Di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez put him into second place , where he stayed to the flag behind teammate Bezzecchi. The reigning world champion is finding his rhythm. Aprilia look genuinely unstoppable right now.
MotoGP had not raced in Brazil since 2004. Twenty two years of waiting, a passionate crowd, a newly renovated circuit, and the biggest motorcycle racing championship on the planet returning to South American soil. The occasion demanded a statement weekend. What Goiania delivered instead was a sinkhole, flying debris, injured riders, a race cut by a third with no warning,…
There is a version of events from the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint that looks encouraging for Yamaha. Fabio Quartararo qualified fourth. He passed both Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez off the start. He grabbed second place behind polesitter Fabio Di Giannantonio and held on to finish sixth.He was pushing to the absolute limit to overcome a 12km/h straightline deficit in…
Fabio Quartararo qualified fourth and finished sixth in the Brazil Sprint, passing both Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi off the line in one of the weekends standout moments. The performance came despite Yamaha running 12km/h slower than Marquez on the straights, with Quartararo estimating 80% of the deficit comes purely from engine power. He has set no concrete goals before mid season. Progress. But not enough.
Toprak Razgatlioglu finished 17th in Brazil, matching his debut result from Thailand the week before. The three time World Superbike champion had crashed out of the Sprint in the closing stages after a promising start to the race. Yamaha switched him to the soft rear tyre for Sunday after the medium caused problems on Saturday. The MotoGP learning curve remains steep.
Francesco Bagnaia’s Brazil weekend fell apart at every turn. He crashed in Q2, damaging his factory Ducati and dropping to 11th on the grid. The Sprint brought eighth. Sunday brought nothing. He lost the front end behind Johann Zarco’s Honda on lap 11 and was out. Two crashes. Zero race points. Bagnaia heads to COTA with serious questions still unanswered.
Fermin Aldeguer missed all pre season testing and the Thai opener after fracturing his femur in a winter training crash. He arrived in Goiania still on crutches, cleared to race by medical staff after a recent test on a Panigale. He then qualified seventh and finished eighth on his 2026 debut. The body is not yet right. The speed clearly is.
Diogo Moreira crossed the line 13th at his home Brazilian Grand Prix in Goiania, collecting six championship points on a weekend that delivered mixed emotions for the rookie. The 2025 Moto2 world champion said a poor start badly hurt his race, having shown the pace to run with the leading Honda group. His target for the season is clear. First Honda. Every race.