· The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, will host the World Motorcycle Championship for the twelfth time. In fact, COTA has hosted the top motorcycle competition since 2013 with only one interruption in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For this round, Pirelli confirms the same allocation chosen for the Argentine GP, i.e. standard tyres, regularly on sale on the market, in soft and medium compounds for both ‘ends’ and for both Moto2™ and Moto3™.
· The number of tyres for each of the solutions also remains unchanged: each rider will have 8 tyres for each of the four slick solutions (two front and two rear) as well as 5 front and 6 rear to be used in wet conditions. Last year, in Moto2™ almost all the riders used the soft SC0 rear solution, in most cases in combination with the medium SC2 front. In Moto3™, both the soft SC1 and the medium SC2 were used at the rear, the latter also widely favoured at the front.
· The circuit is often subject to resurfacing due to the clay soil typical of the area on which it was built and which tends to expand and contract with the alternation of periods of humidity and months of drought, creating depressions and bumps on the track surface. For this reason, the entire section between turns 19 and 2, which includes the start/finish straight, and the one that marks the longest straight, equal to 1200 meters, between turns 11 and 12, has recently been resurfaced.
Standard compounds are appropriate to race in Austin
“At COTA we have already raced with the Moto2™ and Moto3™ riders in 2024, although in that case the race was held in mid-April so this year we could find temperatures a little lower. If it were to be particularly cold, this could negatively affect wear, while remaining manageable. Last season we saw that the standard solutions, i.e. the tyres regularly on sale on the market and purchasable by all motorcyclists, showed excellent performance, allowing us to improve the all-time lap records, the best race laps and the overall race time in both classes, so we believe that this is the correct allocation to tackle this circuit. Some sections of the track, mostly those that include the straights, have been resurfaced to smooth out bumps and potholes but this is now a routine operation for this track that takes place on a regular basis so it should not hold any surprises for us. In the first two GPs of the year the riders have been extremely fast and have improved track records, it will be interesting to see if they can confirm these excellent performances in Austin as well.”
