If you have recorded this morning’s MotoGP race at Texas’ Circuit of The Americas, there are spoilers ahead. You have been warned.
MARQUEZ MAKES IT FIVE FOR FIVE
Marc Marquez has continued his perfect run at the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas in Texas, taking his fifth win at the track in as many years.
Taking his first win of this season today, Marc Marquez completed another perfect weekend at Circuit of the Americas, succeeding in Austin for the fifth-straight time after starting from pole position. Meanwhile, teammate Dani Pedrosa made it a double-podium finish for the Repsol Honda Team, posting a solid third-place result after leading the early going.
Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi showed an impressive pace to claim his third consecutive podium finish of the season and with it, the overall championship lead with 56 points. Teammate Maverick Viñales, who had won each round until Austin, was looking confident, but his race ended prematurely 20 laps before the end with a slide in lap two ending his race.
Viñales had a busy first lap. Starting from second place on the grid he got off the line well, but found himself in fifth place after all 22 riders had squeezed through the first corner. He soon overtook Jorge Lorenzo for fourth and was eager to remain on the tail of his teammate on their way to the front, but his challenge was cut short by a crash in turn 16 one lap later. The Spanish youngster was left unhurt, but unable to continue the race.
“It was a really strange crash, he said. “I did exactly the same as in Warm Up and all weekend, but I crashed. I think we had some issues with the front tyre, but anyway, we know that we are strong and that we have the speed. We can be strong again, so Im going to try to forget this crash and come to Jerez even faster, stronger and more consistent than I was here.
The Repsol Honda riders completed lap one at the front of the pack, Pedrosa having grabbed the lead into turn one from his second-row start, with Marquez following in his teammate’s slipstream for several laps before making a bid for the lead. Although Pedrosa put up a strong defence, the reigning champ took over for good on lap 9 of 21 and extended his advantage during the latter part of the race, while Pedrosa was obliged to relinquish the runner-up position to Rossi with three laps remaining.
“Although I won, it was difficult, because the temperature was much higher than yesterday, Marquez said after the race. “Five minutes before the start, I said to my chief mechanic, ‘Okay, let’s use the hard tyre’ because I knew that I would push the medium front tyre a lot. In the beginning I was just trying to understand the limit because I hadn’t tried it a lot on Friday. I was behind Dani and when I saw that he was struggling a little bit and Valentino was challenging, I said, ‘Time to attack.’ I was able to win, and I’m happy to be back in the championship.”
