until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Unhappiness with the quality and smoothness of the surface at the Circuit of the Americas has once again come to the fore after the first day of MotoGP action at the Texan track in 2023.
Built on an almost-unique type of central Texan soil that’s particularly susceptible to movement during heavy rain, the track’s battle with ever-changing bumps is well-documented and presents a constant challenge for the riders.
However, with the circuit attempting to address the situation by constantly seeking to remove the bumps through partial resurfacing work and efforts to grind down the most aggressive of them, it’s presented a different problem, one that reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia believes will be dangerous should the riders find themselves racing in the rain.
“We have four asphalts in this track,” he explained. “In the dry, you can handle it quite well, but in the wet it’s more difficult. Already in the dry when you brake into Turn 1, where they’ve scratched the track, you feel the front locking. In the wet, it’s even higher.
“We’ll try to speak this evening [in the safety commission meeting] and try to let them understand it, because also Turn 11’s asphalt is destroyed, Turn 12’s asphalt is destroyed. Four asphalts in one circuit is not normal.
“We are going incredibly fast, because we are already at the [lap] record. The level, like we know, is higher. It is incredible. We already had a good exit this morning on a track that was clean compared to last year when it was a disaster.
“We’ve improved the safety there, but when you brake into Turn 1, you feel the rear pushing you and the front locking as you try to stop the bike. Turn 11 and turn 12 is the same, and for me it’s worse than last year.”
And while no one is quite suggesting just yet that the track is too unsafe for MotoGP without significant improvements in the near future, some riders came close to making that call – among them LCR Honda rider Alex Rins, who was able to put on an impressive performance to finish the opening day third and is something of a COTA specialist.
“It’s starting to be dangerous, let’s say it like that,” said the Grand Prix of the Americas 2019 winner. “I really like this place, I like the layout and the track, but most of the crashes are at the most critical points where the tarmac is the worst.
“Corner 11, corner 12, the tarmac is super damaged and the bumps are a lot, even worse than last year. Let’s talk again at the safety commission.”
Riders weren’t unanimous in picking out Turns 11 and 12 – the latter dubbed by Fabio Quartararo a “disaster” – or Turn 1. There were also mentions for Turn 19 – featuring the worst bump, according to Alex Marquez – and Turn 3, which was described, likewise by Marquez, as having a bump “step”. Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi, meanwhile, pointed out the kerb bump exiting Turn 9.
While both the bumps and the surface are being linked to a significant number of crashes, they’re also extracting a physical toll on the riders without falling off, according to Repsol Honda stand-in Stefan Bradl, who hasn’t ridden at the Circuit of the Americas since 2016.
“In the past, I really enjoyed this track, but I’m really disappointed about the track conditions. It’s bad, just bad. The bumps are on the borderline, everyone is complaining, has been complaining in the past and they haven’t changed a lot.
“The circuit is hard to ride, but with all these bumps your whole body is so tense. That’s what takes all your energy. There’s no time to relax, even on the long straight, because the bike is jumping all the way.
“The bike doesn’t shake left and right, but it jumps. You have to keep holding the handlebars tight, and that’s the problem. I believe that, in my personal opinion, we’re going to arrive to a point where it’s not humanly possible. We’re close to saying that it’s too much.”
The most scathing overall assessment probably belonged to VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini, who was distinctly unimpressed, suggesting that COTA’s surface may be the worst on the calendar and going as far as to hint that more consideration needs to be given to the track surface during the homologation period.
But while the conclusions about the surface are almost universal among the riders on the grid, not everyone is as unhappy as others.
Brad Binder, while describing the Turns 9-10 complex as “extremely sketchy”, quite characteristically said he was not overly concerned.
And some of the riders have discovered a much more easy-to-ride circuit in 2023 now that they’ve switched from more aggressive bikes to slightly more compliant machines since the series’ last visit to Texas, with new Aprilia rider Miguel Oliviera among those enjoying himself much more this year.
“He didn’t ride a KTM!” he laughed when asked about fellow RS-GP rider Aleix Espargaro’s comments about their “really stiff” bike’s suitability for the track. “Jesus Christ! If you put in perspective, this bike is definitely nice over the bumps! My standard is different from his standard!”
