MotoGP to Share the Track With Formula 1 in Saturday Demo at COTA

Four MotoGP prototypes will run high-speed demonstration laps at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, the first time the two series share the spotlight during an F1 Grand Prix weekend.

MotoGP to Share the Track With Formula 1 in Saturday Demo at COTA

The United States Grand Prix weekend in Austin will feature something Formula 1 and MotoGP have never done before: a 20-minute MotoGP demonstration on the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, from 11:40 a.m. to noon local time, ahead of the third F1 practice session. Four premier-class prototypes will take to the Texas circuit while the grand prix field watches from the paddock.

The rider lineup mixes legends and champions. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing test rider Dani Pedrosa will be there alongside reigning WorldSBK champion Nicolo Bulega on a Ducati, Yamaha Factory Racing test rider Andrea Dovizioso, and Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori, who will ride the U.S.-owned Trackhouse MotoGP Team's Aprilia.

The crossover is the clearest sign yet of Liberty Media's plan to pull the two championships closer together as both chase growth in the American market. The timing is symbolic too: MotoGP's own championship continues at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island this weekend, so the Austin appearance is a deliberate marketing play rather than a racing commitment.

For F1 fans who have never seen a MotoGP machine up close, the numbers are startling — more than 225 mph and over 60 degrees of lean angle, ridden without anything more protective than leathers. With more than 400,000 spectators expected across the weekend, it will be one of the largest live audiences a MotoGP bike has ever ridden in front of.