Moto3 arrives at the Circuit of the Americas with a front-running fight on its hands ahead of the AmericasGP.

Solunion GASGAS Aspar’s Sergio Garcia vs Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia was an instant classic in Argentina last weekend. Both have underlined their speed in 2022 with Garcia once again sending it on Sunday and pulling off that final lunge to perfection as the number 11 tends to do. The stage could well be set for another showdown in Texas between the duo too, although there is last year’s winner and now teammate to Garcia, Izan Guevara, who’ll likely have different ideas about the weekend ahead. As well as the rest of the pretty packed grid…

Guevara and Garcia were the breakaway early on in Argentina before the number 28 suddenly suffered a technical problem, adding a dash of bad luck to the qualifying penalty that already dampened his charge in Qatar. If it had stayed as it was in Termas before that though, the sophomore would have been leading the Championship, equal on points with his teammate but the first of them to win.

Shoulda woulda coulda is often of little use in racing, but one time it can be relevant is when the points don’t quite reflect speed - especially judging a sophomore rider like Guevara against the wealth of experience of Garcia and Foggia. The number 28 appears to have gone under the radar for some in 2021, despite having arrived in Moto3 from winning the FIM JuniorGP World Championship as a rookie and winning a Grand Prix race as a rookie too, but it looks like it’s game on now.

So can anyone else keep challenging the sheer speed of Foggia, the send it masterclasses of Garcia and the elbows out of Guevara? So far, the next fastest rider – and sometimes fastest of all – has been Ayumu Sasaki on the Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max, but a mixture of bad luck and trouble has hit the Japanese rider in the first couple of rounds. In Argentina though he made it happen, despite a long lap penalty for the incident with Rivacold Snipers’ Andrea Migno in Lombok, slicing back through from outside the points.

Speaking of Migno, the Italian has also been fast but suffered mixed fates since his awesome win in the season opener. He'll be one to watch, as will Termas sparring partner Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo), equally fast but lacking points. Kaito Toba (CIP - Green Power) and Deniz Öncu (Red Bull KTM Tech3) are lurking in the standings thanks to a little better consistency, and the likes of Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing), Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) are in their stride.

The same can also be said of some of the very impressive rookies joining the class this season. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets - MSI) was once again the top debutant with another impressive finish in the top six, but as Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) gets back to full fitness, this time Moreira had close company. Joel Kelso (CIP - Green Power) also impressed in Argentina with provisional pole after the first runs and then a second row start, coming home tenth. What hands can they play in Texas?

One change for the coming weekend sees the Moto3 race later in the day this time round, with Moto2 and MotoGP heading out first.