MotoGP Sends Four Race Bikes To F1: In Front of 400,000 Fans in COTA

MotoGP Crashes the F1 Party: Four Bikes, 400,000 Fans, One First at COTA

On Saturday, October 24, MotoGP bikes will run during a Formula 1 weekend for the first time, according to MotoGP. Four premier-class machines will do a 20-minute demonstration at Circuit of The Americas, from 11:40am to 12:00pm CDT, just before F1 Free Practice 3.

• 4 bikes from 4 manufacturers: Dani Pedrosa (KTM), Nicolo Bulega (Ducati), Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia, SuperFile Trackhouse).
• 400,000+ fans expected across the weekend.
• 225 mph+ top speed, 60-degree+ lean angles, 130+ dB.
• Fan Zone display all weekend, with teams and riders on site Thursday to Sunday.

How did this happnen:

Liberty now controls both F1 and MotoGP, and this puts MotoGP in front of a crowd it can’t build alone. For scale, F1 drew 432,000 spectators to COTA in 2023, and a CNN report in 2024 noted MotoGP grandstands had some way to go to match that. Autosport reported that teams have mostly relied on road bikes in MotoGP liveries for promotional appearances. Real premier-class machines on an F1 weekend is a step up. Most of the 400,000 F1 fans are gonna hear the real MotoGP sound for the first time!

The demo falls on the same weekend as MotoGP’s Australian round, so the full-time riders are in Phillip Island. Pedrosa, Bulega and the two test riders fill in. Bulega, the reigning WorldSBK champion, joins Pertamina Enduro VR46 in MotoGP next season. The series returns to COTA for the 2027 US Grand Prix on April 23 to 25.

The American problem, in people’s words

MotoGP’s US struggle is well documented. In that 2024 CNN piece, Wayne Rainey said his neighbors had no idea what he did when he was world champion, while in Spain he couldn’t leave his house. He blamed the size of the US market for the difficulty of gaining ground. Roland Sands argued Americans won’t care until there are characters to follow, crediting Liberty’s work with F1. A demo in front of F1 fans is a direct test of that idea.