Enea Bastianini grabbed 9 points for a 7th position finish at a chaotic but exciting Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas today. The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider steered his KTM RC16 to the top seven and his best result to-date, classifying seven places ahead of teammate Maverick Viñales (who had to start from pitlane) at a warm and changeable Circuit of the Americas for the 37th premier class Grand Prix on American soil. The KTM GP Academy picked up more silverware with Jose Antonio Rueda swooping to his second Moto3™ victory of the year with an all-KTM RC4 podium.
Thailand, Argentina and now the USA: MotoGP continued its transcontinental trek in 2025 and arrived at the vast expanses of the Circuit of the Americas where the 5.5km layout again promised a challenging and mixed allotment of 20 corners and varying cambers. After rain-hit sessions on Friday, qualification and the Sprint was run in dry and hot conditions but the climate twisted again on Sunday with a damp Moto2 race causing indecision for tire choice for MotoGP. The race was delayed as riders left the grid to make last minute changes and then Viñales had a glitch on the reformed line-up. He started from pitlane and had to blast back from last through the 19-lap distance.
Acosta, from P4, was into the heart of the leading group from the opening uphill Turn 1. The youngster forced some early moves but Turn 1 would be a fateful spot as the Spaniard slid out of contention. The race developed into a more strategic chase of pace and tire wear control while Binder made his customary lunge past other riders to make impressive ground. The South African was heading for the top six until a mechanical issue prematurely ended his chase. Viñales worked his way from last to 14th but Bastianini harnessed his tire potential to make inroads from P17 and rode solidly and steadily to arrive all the way to 7th: his best standing yet after 9th in Thailand and 17th in Argentina.
MotoGP will head east this week and will cross Europe to head to Qatar. The impressive and floodlit Lusail International Circuit is the host of round four in two weeks.
Enea Bastianini, 7th and 12th in the championship standings: “I’m happy with my race. It’s been the best one so far this season but also for my feeling on the bike. I was riding well and it was the first time I felt like one package with the bike. We had made improvements, and the front end was working better after we changed the balance. We need to check this now for the next race.”
Maverick Viñales, 14th and 17th in the championship standings: “A lot of things happened but I’m happy because we improved the feeling and the rhythm was good. My plan was to start the race and come in and change the bike with dry tires but then everyone left the grid, there was a red flag and we had the chance. Unfortunately, the bike then stopped when we came around again and I was in the pitlane. Anyway, from there it was good!I think we had the level for the top five. We need to keep believing and Qatar is a nice track. I think we can do it.”
Brad Binder, DNF and 11th in the championship standings: “A chaotic start! Nobody knew what was going on but when the race did start I got away really well and fought with the guys earlier on. I took my time to see where I could push with the wet patches on the track and after about half-race distance I felt I could push-on. I moved up another position but then we had an electrical issue and had to stop. Really unfortunately because we would have been guaranteed a top five. But, anyway, from yesterday to today we made an important step forward and the bike was a lot more how I wanted it, so hats-off to my team.”
Pedro Acosta, DNF and 13th in the championship standings: “Difficult to understand. I had a lot of front locking and we don’t know why. Quite tough and strange. The bike was working better until we had this problem. It is what it is. We need to try and understand what was happening and be stronger next time.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Our performance today was bit better than yesterday here at COTA: we cannot be happy with the final results or what happened but it hides some of the progress we are making. We have to examine why Pedro was struggling in what were difficult conditions between the dry of warm-up, the rain of the Sighting Lap and then a drying track that cause the race delay. On the other side of the box, Brad had much more feedback from his bike after some changes to the setting and this was more positive and we want to see how it will work in Qatar. We should have made the top five with him. It’s good to see that both Maverick and Enea are also making forward steps in their performance: Maverick in Q2 and showing a strong pace and Enea again really strong in the race. We’re in the right direction.”
