Masterful win for Marquez in Texas

Marquez speeds to victory
Marquez speeds to victory

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.

The Repsol Honda riders completed lap one at the front of the pack, Dani having grabbed the lead into turn one from his second-row start, with Marc 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 Dani was obliged to relinquish the runner-up position to Valentino Rossi with three laps remaining.

Maverick Vinales fell out of contention on the second lap with a low-side crash at Turn 18, ending his winning streak after his victories in Qatar and Argentina.

Amazingly, Marquez has won every Premier-class GP he has ever entered in the U.S., having also taken three MotoGP victories in Indianapolis and one in Laguna Seca; including his two Moto2 wins in the country, this is Marc’s 11th consecutive victory in the USA. That said, the last time the Repsol Honda man had stood atop the podium was when he clinched last year’s title in Suzuka, Japan, last October, so this victory marked a welcome return to the top.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Marc’s win today also adds yet another important piece to Honda’s own domination in MotoGP events hosted in the USA. In fact, the last 14 MotoGP races on American tarmac have been won by Honda riders. (The last non-Honda MotoGP winner in the country was Jorge Lorenzo, at Laguna Seca in 2010.) Honda have therefore won 17 of the 22 premier-class Grand Prix races that have taken place in the USA during the MotoGP era.

Marc Marquez
This was a crucial race because after Argentina it was important to come back in the best way, so we are really happy with this result. Although I won, it was difficult, because the temperature was much higher than yesterday. 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.

Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 25 Repsol Honda Team Honda 43'58.770
2 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 20 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 3.069
3 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 16 Repsol Honda Team Honda 5.112
4 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 13 LCR Honda Honda 7.638
5 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA 11 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 7.957
6 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 10 Ducati Team Ducati 14.058
7 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 9 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 15.491
8 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 8 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 16.772
9 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 7 Ducati Team Ducati 17.979
10 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 6 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 18.494
11 FOLGER Jonas 94 GER 5 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 18.903
12 REDDING Scott 45 GBR 4 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 28.735
13 RABAT Tito 53 SPA 3 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 30.041
14 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 2 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 31.364
15 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 1 Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 1'06.547
16 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 0 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'22.090
17 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 0 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 2 laps
18 LOWES Sam 22 GBR 0 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 10 laps
19 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 0 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 12 laps
20 BAZ Loris 76 FRA 0 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 13 laps
21 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 0 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 20 laps
22 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE 0 Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 20 laps

Rider Standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 56 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
2 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 50 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
3 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 38 Repsol Honda Team Honda
4 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 30 Ducati Team Ducati
5 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 29 LCR Honda Honda
6 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 27 Repsol Honda Team Honda
7 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA 22 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
8 FOLGER Jonas 94 GER 21 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
9 REDDING Scott 45 GBR 21 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati
10 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 21 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
11 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 17 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati
12 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 14 Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati
13 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 12 Ducati Team Ducati
14 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 10 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
15 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 9 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
16 BAZ Loris 76 FRA 9 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati
17 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE 8 Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati
18 RABAT Tito 53 SPA 8 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
19 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 8 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati
20 RINS Alex 42 SPA 7 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
21 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 2 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
22 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 1 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM

Team Standings

Pos. Team Points
1 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 106
2 Repsol Honda Team 65
3 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43
4 Ducati Team 42
5 Octo Pramac Racing 38
6 LCR Honda 29
7 Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS 29
8 Pull&Bear Aspar Team 22
9 Reale Avintia Racing 17
10 Team Suzuki Ecstar 16
11 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 10
12 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 3

Constructor Standings

Pos. Team Points
1 Yamaha 70
2 Honda 54
3 Ducati 43
4 Suzuki 16
5 Aprilia 10
6 KTM 2