MotoGP preview: Rd3, Circuit of the Americas, America, April 8-10

After drama aplenty in Argentina, the MotoGP season continues at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas this weekend — a venue where Marc Marquez hasn't lowered his colours since he joined the premier class in 2013.

The Spaniard has been the only rider to finish on the podium in both races this season, and heads to Austin with an 8pt (41 to 33) championship lead on his Repsol Honda over Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha), with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda, 27) in third position.

In 2015, Marquez was again in a class of his own at COTA, and it all began in qualifying when he had to jump on his second bike in the final seconds of the session and proceeded to uncork the most brilliant pole-sitting lap — all ragged and on the edge but seemingly in control of the situation.

It was mesmerising stuff, and Marquez then got the job done in the 21-lap race from Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Rossi.

Although he's been the only MotoGP rider to take the chequered flag in Austin, Marquez knows he has plenty of hard work ahead of him this Sunday.

"It’s a track that I like, where I feel strong, and where I’ve always had good races and good fun," said Marquez. "That said, the track rewards strong acceleration, which hasn't been one of our strongest points so far this year, so we’ll have to wait and see how we can manage the situation. We’ll keep working hard, as we did in Argentina, and we’ll try to find the best pace for the Sunday race.”

Pedrosa, coming off "the luckiest day" of his racing career in Argentina when he was gifted third place after Andrea Iannone took out his teammate Dovizioso on the last corner of the race, finished second at COTA in 2013 and 2014, but missed last year's race because of his now-cured arm pump issues.

Rossi was the other major benefactor of Iannone's Argentinian implosion, with the Italian veteran finishing in second place. He lacked some pace in the final stages of last Sunday's race, but the battle-hardened 37-year-old can never be discounted and he'll again be one of the front-runners at COTA.

Meanwhile, round one winner Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha) wasn't at his best in Argentina, and crashed out of sixth place early on. The Majorca-based world champion put a philosophical bent on his crash, and will be looking to produce a much improved display at COTA before the championship hits Jerez in round four — a venue where his 2015 season really kicked into life.

Lorenzo is fourth in the championship on 25pts from Dovizioso (23), who pushed his Ducati over the finishing line in Argentina to salvage 3pts.

As well as the factory Honda, Yamaha and Ducatis, Maverick Vinales (Ecstar Suzuki) could be another to push for a podium at COTA. He was in the running for second position in Argentina before crashing with three laps to run, and his teammate Aleix Espargaro also went down alongside others such as Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Aussie Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 9.0 Marc VDS).

Crutchlow, and Iannone for that matter, are yet to score points in 2016, while Miller is 17th on 2pts. Iannone copped a three-grid penalty for COTA after his last corner exploits in Argentina.

Through all the chaos and mayhem of round two, Eugene Laverty (Aspar Ducati) was fourth in his best ever MotoGP result, and he's now third in the Independent Team rider standings behind Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing Ducati).

Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich Ducati) is another showing good speed in 2016, and the factory Aprilias of Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista continue to imporove, with both scoring top 10 finishes in Argentina.

MOTO2/MOTO3
The Moto2 class has produced six different riders on the podium across the opening two rounds, so what will Austin produce? The pre-season title favourites were back to their best in Argentina as world champion Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) took the honours and moved to second in the standings, 5pts behind Tom Luthi (Garage Plus Interwetten).

Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) won at COTA in 2015 from Zarco and Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP 40), and this year riders like Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia), Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), Jonas Folger (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Dominique Aegerter (CarXpert Interwetten) will be in the mix.

In Moto3, the season-opening Qatar GP was a nail-biter, the victor 0.007secs ahead of second, and then in Argentina Malaysian rookie Khairul Idham Pawi (Honda Team Asia) scored a crushing 25-second win as experienced hands such as Romano Fenati (Sky Racing Team VR46) and Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Moto3) floundered in the mixed conditions and failed to score points.

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) leads the championship by 5pts over Qatar winner Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold), and in 2015 the South African finished fifth at COTA — Bastianini and Fabio Quartararo (Leopard Racing) the only two riders still in the class to finish ahead of him.

The three world championship races at COTA will be held over the following distances and times:

•    MotoGP: 21 laps, 115.8km, starting at 2:00pm local time (5:00am AEST April 11)
•    Moto2: 19 laps, 104.7km, starting a 12:20pm local time (3:20am AEST April 11)
•    Moto3: 18 laps, 99.2km, starting at 11:00am local time (2:00am AEST April 11)