2021 Austin MotoGP, COTA, Texas - Full Warm-up Results
Takaaki Nakagami fastest ahead of fellow Honda rider Marc Marquez during warm-up for the 2021 Americas MotoGP at COTA.
LCR's Nakagami, who has qualified fifth, was one of the few to use soft tyres front and rear this morning, although world championship leader Fabio Quartararo (fourth) also tried the all-soft combination.
Most others ran hard front and soft rears, but rear tyre choice especially is still open for the race and Jack Miller, fuming after a season-worst tenth in qualifying, was among those to try the hard rear this morning.
But it was the hard front tyre that caught the Australian out in warm-up, falling into Turn 1.
Marquez will start this afternoon's grand prix from the front row - behind title contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Quartararo - for the first time this year and having won six of the seven previous COTA MotoGP races, falling while leading in 2019.
Marquez and Bagnaia spent part of warm-up 'shadow boxing' for the race, the Honda rider following Bagnaia for several laps then putting a pass on the Ducati, who then chased Marquez to see his strengths and weaknesses.
Johann Zarco is riding for the first time since arm pump surgery, while Suzuki's reigning champion Joan Mir has a Kevin Schwantz-style helmet and racing number this weekend.
MotoGP is returning to COTA for the first time since the 2019 event, after which further resurfacing work was carried out on around 40% of the track (Turns 1-2, 9-10, 16-19, plus the back straight) to alleviate bumps.
However, bikes and riders are still being badly kicked around, especially through Turns 2 and 10.
COTA has the most corners (20) in MotoGP, including the slowest of the season at just 50km/h (Turn 11). The following back straight is the longest in MotoGP at 1.2km and ends with the hardest braking on the calendar, from over 330km/h to less than 60km/h.
Maverick Vinales has withdrawn from the COTA event after the tragic death of his young cousin Dean Berta Vinales in last weekend's Jerez WorldSSP300 race….
| Austin MotoGP, COTA - Warm-up Results | ||||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time/Diff | Lap | Max (km/h) |
| 1 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | 2'4.074s | 9/10 | 343k |
| 2 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +0.048s | 8/8 | 344k |
| 3 | Alex Rins | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.449s | 5/9 | 340k |
| 4 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.457s | 8/9 | 341k |
| 5 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP21)* | +0.694s | 6/8 | 341k |
| 6 | Joan Mir | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.729s | 9/9 | 336k |
| 7 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) | +0.752s | 4/10 | 346k |
| 8 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP21) | +0.783s | 10/10 | 352k |
| 9 | Pol Espargaro | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +0.836s | 9/9 | 345k |
| 10 | Jack Miller | AUS | Ducati Team (GP21) | +0.947s | 6/9 | 346k |
| 11 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Avintia Ducati (GP19)* | +0.975s | 7/8 | 344k |
| 12 | Luca Marini | ITA | Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* | +0.987s | 6/8 | 342k |
| 13 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16) | +0.987s | 3/10 | 343k |
| 14 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.990s | 10/10 | 334k |
| 15 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +1.104s | 9/10 | 342k |
| 16 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +1.135s | 6/9 | 339k |
| 17 | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +1.147s | 5/9 | 342k |
| 18 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Team (GP21) | +1.157s | 4/10 | 346k |
| 19 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +1.702s | 4/8 | 340k |
| 20 | Danilo Petrucci | ITA | KTM Tech3 (RC16) | +1.890s | 8/9 | 336k |
| 21 | Valentino Rossi | ITA | Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +1.893s | 10/10 | 338k |
* Rookie
Official COTA MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 2m 2.135s (2015)
Fastest race lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 2m 3.375s (2014)
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
