2013 Circuit of the Americas MotoGP | Photo Gallery

2013 Austin MotoGP Photos/Images/Pics/Wallpaper

The 2013 MotoGP Championship is a historical one for America.  For the first time ever, MotoGP will be held in the USA three separate times – Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Texas, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California, and Indianpolis Motor Speedway in Indian. The only country to hold more rounds in 2013 will be Spain (Jerez, Catalunya, Aragon and Valencia).

And the historical season for stateside MotoGP fans got underway this past weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

During the debut of the circuit, further history was made when Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez took his first-ever premier-class pole at COTA Saturday. But the 20-year-old rookie MotoGP rider wasn’t done just yet; the  Spaniard followed this up with a win, which was also his first-ever in MotoGP.

The RC213V pilot now holds the record for youngest rider to ever achieve a pole and win in MotoGP. Marquez ousted the previous record holder Freddie Spencer, who completed the feats in 1982 at the age of 21.

Joining Marquez on the Austin MotoGP podium was teammate Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, machine for an all-Spanish podium.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “After taking my first podium in Qatar I was very happy, but I am even more so today after my first win! It went better than I expected and I am very grateful to the team for their efforts over the preseason; we have worked very hard and, without this, the victory would not have been possible.

“The race was very intense and physical, as I followed Dani for many laps and then decided to launch an attack and try to open a gap with ten laps to go. I could not pull the gap I wanted as some problems with the front emerged that we’d experienced throughout the weekend. Despite all this, we were able to take the victory.”

And with this historical moment in MotoGP history arrived much great photography from Ara Ashjian, an Ultimate MotorCycling contributor. Ashjian was able to capture some great images of all riders, including Valentino Rossi, Lorenzo, Marquez, Stefan Bradl, Ben Spies, and others, and of course some umbrella girls.

Attached above is a photo gallery of Ashjian’s images from Circuit of the Americas, which also make for great wallpaper. To download for wallpaper, simply click on the thumbnail to expand, then right click and set as desktop background.

Photos by Ara Ashjian