MotoGP

Bastianini wins on old MotoGP Ducati again, Marquez stars

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
4 min read

Gresini Ducati rider Enea Bastianini reclaimed the MotoGP championship lead by winning at the Circuit of the Americas, as the returning Marc Marquez dazzled by charging from the back of the field to sixth.

Honda’s six-time MotoGP champion Marquez, who recovered from his latest bout of double vision just in time to race at the American track, where he’d lost just once in his career before this Sunday, couldn’t get going properly at the start, dropping back from ninth to dead last off the line as a result.

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Yet he was up to 18th after the opening lap, made that 16th a lap later and charged into the top 10th the expense of his factory team-mate Pol Espargaro on lap six. His progress continued from there on, and he would wind up defeating reigning champion Fabio Quartararo in a heated late-race tussle to claim sixth place.

At the start, Jack Miller picked off poleman Jorge Martin as Ducati’s stranglehold on the race was maintained early on – with Quartararo briefly disrupting the 1-2-3-4-5 by passing compatriot Johann Zarco, before soon giving up the spot back to Zarco.

Martin briefly reclaimed the lead in the penultimate corner of the opening lap, but Miller was back ahead a corner later, the pair then spending the next few laps in tandem out front.

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With the pack not spreading out much, the Ducati lead group was pierced again on the sixth lap – this time by Alex Rins, who after taking care of Quartararo’s Yamaha moved past Francesco Bagnaia before engaging in a lengthy duel with Zarco, in which he finally prevailed at Turn 12 on the eighth lap.

Suzuki rider Rins then came up on third-placed Bastianini in virtually no time, attempting a pair of Turn 11 lunges that never came off – before Bastianini himself successfully lunged down the inside of Martin at Turn 1.

Rins dispatched Martin a few corners later, but by then the pair had nearly a second to make up to Miller, who had been slowly but steadily building a gap out front.

But while Rins was unable to keep pace with Miller up ahead, Bastianini was fully capable – and, having kept the gap steady for some time after having cleared Martin, he then suddenly began to make huge inroads with seven laps left to run.

On lap 16 of 20 Bastianini breezed past Miller on the back straight, before putting half a second between himself and the works Ducati over the next couple of sectors.

His lead would balloon to two seconds in time for the chequered flag as Miller had fallen back into the clutches of Rins.

The Suzuki rider got past at Turn 11 on the final lap, but Miller slipstreamed back past on the back straight – only for Rins to finally claim the spot for good in the penultimate corner of the race.

Joan Mir made it two Suzukis in the top four, having likewise made his way through the gaggle of Ducatis, while Bagnaia completed the top five, finishing just head of the Marquez – Quartararo duel.

Pramac duo Martin and Zarco had to settle for eighth and ninth, Zarco finishing just ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales – who came out on top in a multi-lap battle against team-mate Aleix Espargaro and Brad Binder, the only points-scorer for KTM.

While the Moto2 race that preceded the premier-class had been a total crashfest, only two riders fell during the MotoGP event – these being rookie Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) and Alex Marquez (LCR Honda).

Race Results

Pos Name Team Bike Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Enea Bastianini Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 20 5 41m23.111s 2m03.521s 0 25
2 Alex Rins Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 20 0 +2.058s 2m03.932s 0 20
3 Jack Miller Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 20 15 +2.312s 2m03.674s 0 16
4 Joan Mir Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 20 0 +3.975s 2m03.799s 0 13
5 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 20 0 +6.045s 2m03.87s 0 11
6 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 20 0 +6.617s 2m03.553s 0 10
7 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 20 0 +6.76s 2m04.037s 0 9
8 Jorge Martin Pramac Racing Ducati 20 0 +8.441s 2m04.103s 0 8
9 Johann Zarco Pramac Racing Ducati 20 0 +12.375s 2m03.895s 0 7
10 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia 20 0 +12.642s 2m03.57s 0 6
11 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia 20 0 +12.947s 2m04.306s 0 5
12 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +13.376s 2m04.305s 0 4
13 Pol Espargaró Repsol Honda Team Honda 20 0 +17.961s 2m04.508s 0 3
14 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 20 0 +18.77s 2m04.559s 0 2
15 Andrea Dovizioso WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 20 0 +29.319s 2m04.802s 0 1
16 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 20 0 +29.129s 2m04.723s 0 0
17 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 20 0 +29.63s 2m04.694s 0 0
18 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +32.002s 2m04.747s 0 0
19 Raul Fernandez Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +37.062s 2m04.621s 0 0
20 Remy Gardner Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +42.442s 2m05.218s 0 0
21 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 20 0 +42.887s 2m05.15s 0 0
22 Darryn Binder WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 20 0 +1m42.171s 2m04.777s 0 0
Alex Marquez LCR Honda Castrol Honda 5 0 DNF 2m04.558s 0 0
Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 2 0 DNF 2m39.542s 0 0
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