Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp‘s Manuel Gonzalez and Soichiro Minamimoto have reunited for this weekend‘s Grand Prix of The Americas. The teammates are both in high spirits as they anticipate a positive, albeit testing, race weekend at the technically difficult Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Gonzalez had been looking forward to returning to Austin, Texas, ever since he left the USA last year. He finished his rookie race at this tricky track in 13th place. With a whole lot more experience and kilometres under his belt, Manugasss can‘t help but feel that he has a shot at fighting at the front this weekend and moving up from seventh in the overall standings.
As Kohta Nozane continues to focus on recovering from his lower-back injury, Minamimoto will again be stepping in as his replacement this weekend. The Japanese rider showed great skill and bravery at the start of the Argentina GP. Despite it being his first Moto2 race, he made up 13 positions on a wet opening lap and ultimately finished the race in 20th place. COTA is again a completely new track for the Asian talent, but he is up for the challenge.
Constructed in 2013, COTA was added to the Grand Prix schedule that same year. Its length of 5513m and mixture of fast straights and tight hairpins make the track both challenging and exciting to master for teams and riders. They need to find exactly the right balance for their bike‘s set-up to suit the 11 left, 9 right turns, and the 1,200m straight in order to snatch a place on the podium. The especially sharp Turn 1 will be a spot where the fans can expect a lot of overtaking action, both at the start and during the race.
The Grand Prix of The Americas is held in the GMT -5 time zone. Moto2‘s P1 will take place on Friday from 09:50 - 10:30, local track time followed by P2 from 14:05 - 14:45. On Saturday, P3 will be held from 09:25 - 09:55 and the qualifying sessions from 13:45 -14:25. On Sunday, the race starts at 12:15.
