MotoGP preview: Indianapolis

Venue
Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Circuit
4.216km; 16 corners, 10 left, six right; a composite track with three distinct sections. The first is specific to MotoGP racing; the second takes in the infield once used by F1; the third brings them back to the world-famous oval. Grip levels have varied in the past so they have resurfaced it to try to alleviate that problem.

Lap records
MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:39.088, 2012
Moto2: Marc Marquez (Suter) 1:43.304, 2012
Moto3: Romano Fenati (FTR Honda) 1:48.648, 2012

MotoGP: Survival of the fittest?
Four weeks after their last appearance in the United States, the MotoGP brigade are back there for the third and final time this season. Heading to the famous Brickyard for the sixth time, it’s rookie Marc Marquez who leads the way by 16pts from Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa. Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo is 10 behind Pedrosa, with his sidekick Valentino Rossi 20 further back on 117. The restart will be hectic: three races in as many weeks at tracks as diverse as Indy, Brno and Silverstone.

Although there are still 225pts to play for, the title seems likely to go to one of the big quartet -- but which one? For Marquez, youngest-ever winner of back-to-back races, the break was an unwelcome pause in his headlong run of success; for Pedrosa and Lorenzo it couldn’t come soon enough as they sought respite from painful injuries that had blunted their own attack. Neither man has been on the podium in the last three Grands Prix. For Rossi, who has been there in all three of those races, there is significant ground to make up if he is to feel his gamble on returning to Yamaha has really paid off.

The remarkable Marquez has won both of the previous races in the States this year -- and he took out the last two Moto2 races at Indianapolis before moving upstairs, so the 20-year-old Spaniard’s confidence is understandably high.

“It's been good to have this time off to think about my first few months in MotoGP and reflect on my performances and what I've learnt but now I'm ready to get back on the bike!” he says. “I like the Indianapolis track and I'm interested to see how the grip is on the Bridgestone tyres because it seems this has been an issue in the past. As usual, we will take our time in FP1 and try to find our feeling on the bike at this track."

Pedrosa can point to a pretty decent Indianapolis record of his own. In the five weekends there so far he has been on pole twice (2009, 2012), won twice (2010, 2012) and set fastest race lap twice (2010, 2012). Much will hinge, though, on his recovery from another troublesome shoulder injury: “I'm feeling much stronger physically,” he insists. “I've had time to relax with some friends and also have lots of physiotherapy on my shoulder to prepare myself for this second part of the season. I've had a medical check in the last days and we can see the bone getting stronger. It still needs a few more weeks to recover completely but my feeling is already much better than in Laguna.”

Lorenzo’s situation was even worse, requiring two bouts of surgery within 10 days, and he admits he is not yet back to his physical best. “We are returning to the USA and beginning the second half of the year, which may be the toughest,” he says. “I was able to rest for some days after Laguna Seca and then we went to Brno to make a private test with Yamaha. Those two days gave me an opportunity to check my physical condition. I’m a bit tired, especially because after two crashes in Assen and Sachsenring I couldn’t recover so much and now we have to manage a long period with three races in a row. I feel better obviously than in Laguna but still need time to recover to 100% and it is not going to be easy because the calendar is so busy and also we have to fight not to lose points.”

Rossi too remembers Indianapolis fondly. After all, Vale was the first winner there in his previous Yamaha spell. “I'm happy to be back there on my M1, although that's not one of my favorite tracks,” he says. “I needed these holidays to recharge my batteries, even if we had two days of testing right in the middle. Indianapolis will be the first one of three consecutive races and it will be very important to do good results everywhere. My team and I still have much work to do on the M1 therefore they will be three very demanding weeks but we feel ready for the challenge.”

Behind the Big Four men like Laguna Seca stars Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista will be keen to prove their previous American form was no flash in the pan.“I feel sure that we are in our best form of the season so far,” insists Honda Gresini’s Bautista. “We were competitive there and in terms of my feeling with the bike over the course of the weekend it was probably the best I have ever had in MotoGP.” After some sun and sand Bautista went to Colin Edwards’ famous boot-camp in the USA. “Now I am ready and looking forward to three races in as many weekends,” he says. “Indianapolis is a strange circuit and it's different to most of the places we go to because amongst other things it runs anticlockwise. We fought for the podium there last year and after such a good weekend at Laguna last time out I am hoping for better this year.”

Meanwhile Cal Crutchlow’s backside will still be on his Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, but will the Englishman’s mind be elsewhere? Since the last race we have learned that Cal is off to Ducati next year to hook up with his 2012 teammate Andrea Dovisioso again. “My Tech3 team have been absolutely amazing over the last 3 years and I’ll be very, very sad to leave!” That’s the message he’s been sending out, adding “Certainly give them my all rest of year.” Dovi, by the way, was third here last year behind Pedrosa and Lorenzo.

Further back on the grid, Australia’s lone senior-class representative Bryan Staring is looking forward to better things in the second half of his debut season. Bryan has posted just one points-scoring finish, in Barcelona, but thinks just maybe a corner has been turned. “I was quite happy after Laguna Seca, which went better than we expected,” he says. “Overall it was a good weekend for us, especially after coming off the back of a disastrous German Grand Prix. Now I am convinced we can take another step forward at Indy. It looks like a strange track but I am curious to see it for myself and I am certainly highly motivated. I am determined to take another big step forward and I am sure that with the help of my team I can do it.”

Footnote: welcome back to Ben Spies, back on the Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati for a home race after missing no fewer than seven through injury. Ben has a cool Indy record: pole position in 2010, second in that year’s race and third in 2011. But his win at Assen two years ago was the last by an American rider -- that’s 37 races ago.

Moto2: They’re MotoGP-bound, but which one takes the title with him?
That’s Scott Redding and Pol Espargaro, both of whom have announced plans to move up to the senior category in 2014. Espargaro’s a done deal: he’s off to replace Crutchlow at Monster Tech 3 Yamaha. But British rider Redding has so far been coy about the team with which he will graduate, if he does.

Meantime the Marc VDS man heads to Indianapolis refreshed by the five-week break and with a handy 23pt lead over Tuenti HP 40’s Spaniard, whose two no-scores at Austin and Le Mans could prove costly in the long run. Still, he was second at Indianapolis last season and is on a run of three straight podiums.

(Q: of 24 podium places this year, Salom-Viñales-Rins have taken 23. Who claimed the other one?)

Aussie twosome Arthur Sissis and Jack Miller got together during the break in Germany and Spain, mixing some other sporting fun in with some mountain-biking and motocross. Sissis, teammate to Salom and 12th overall, is on a run of three successive top-10 finishes and looking forward to the Indy challenge: ” The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is rather difficult to ride, with little grip. Without a doubt, it is one of my favourite tracks. Maybe my favourite sector is the first one, with the quick corners. I hope to continue with the work we started in Sachsenring, which was pretty good. It will be important to improve in the qualifying session and try to place in the top ten in every session.”

(A: Jonas Folger, third at the Grand Prix of Catalunya)