The World Motorcycle Championship lands in the United States this weekend, serving as the final stop before the circuit heads to Europe for the central division events. The American Grand Prix weekend is a celebration, with leaders in MotoGP and Moto3, Aleix Espargaró riding for Aprilia and Sergio García Dols for GasGas, while Marc Márquez makes his return to the series after a period away.
After three tests at Lusail, Mandalika, and Termas de Río Hondo, Celestino Vietti stands out as the single clear leader in Moto2, the Italian rider commanding a 21-point advantage over Arón Canet of Spain. The action remains tight in the other classes, especially in MotoGP where favorites have yet to assert dominance or even emerge clearly at the top of the standings.
Aleix Espargaró has used this unpredictability to his benefit, building an early lead for Aprilia. The team has steadily progressed each season and has added multiple top results. At the Argentina Grand Prix last weekend, the field demonstrated there are no obvious frontrunners. No rider has repeated a victory in the early rounds, and no single manufacturer has dominated from Lusail to Mandalika. The podiums have been dispersed, underscoring the competition’s parity.
Espargaró holds a lead of 45 points in the overall standings, thanks to consistent finishes, including a fourth place in Qatar and a ninth in Indonesia. He sits seven points ahead of Brad Binder of South Africa on KTM and nine points ahead of Enea Bastianini and Alex Rins, both on Kalex machines, who are closely pursuing him in the chase for the title.
The world championship lead is within reach of Fabio Quartararo, the current champion, who remains in the title hunt despite not feeling entirely at ease with the Yamaha M1. He sits ten points behind Márquez’s traditional rival Joan Mir, who is on Suzuki machinery. Francesco Bagnaia, the Italian rider on Ducati, is further back in the standings but remains a strong threat, occupying fifth place in the table with a 31-point gap to the leader.
Marc Márquez, who began the year facing a run of misfortune, has shown glimpses of his former speed. After a promising fifth place at the season opener, a difficult race in Indonesia followed by a setback in Argentina has kept him from the podium. The Spaniard’s form continues to improve, but consistency remains a goal as he targets a strong result at a track that has long been a favorite in his career.
The championship fight remains open, with Márquez and others eyeing the Texas track as a battleground where he has historically performed well. He is expected to pursue the best setup for his Honda as he returns to competition in this round, determined not to cede ground to rivals, while his brother Pol Espargaró looks to recover from less favorable results in the prior races, having scored no points in Termas de Río Hondo after a solid start in Lusail.
Honda continues to be a dominant force at Texas, where Márquez has contributed to a strong team performance in recent seasons. Only Suzuki provided a challenge to this strength as Joan Mir and the team looked to repeat last year’s podium pattern, but the overall balance in the field keeps the title fight wide open as the season proceeds. The narrative at this stage is about depth across teams and the ability of riders to extract peak performance from their machines on a demanding track that rewards precision and speed alike.
American GP schedule
Friday, April 8
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16:00 hours (CET): FP1 Moto2
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16:55 hours (CET): FP1 MotoGP
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17:55 hours (CET): FP1 Moto3
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20:15 hours (CET): FP2 Moto2
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21:10 hours (CET): FP2 MotoGP
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22:10 hours (CET): FP2 Moto3
Saturday, April 9
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16:00: FP3 Moto2
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16:55: FP3 MotoGP
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17:55: FP3 Moto3
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19:35: Q1 Moto2
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20:00: Q2 Moto2
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20:30: FP4 MotoGP
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21:10: Q1 MotoGP
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21:35: Q2 MotoGP
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22:10: Q1 Moto3
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22:35: Q2 Moto3
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00:00 clock: press conference
Sunday, April 10
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18:20: Moto2 Race
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20:00: MotoGP Race
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21:30: Moto3 Race
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