Marquez extends win streak in Austin sprint after wild first-lap scare

Marc Marquez extended his MotoGP winning streak in the sprint at his beloved Circuit of the Americas - but only after so nearly crashing during an electrifying opening lap.

It led to what was ultimately the fifth Marquez 1-2 of the season, with Marc now leading Alex in the championship by 19 points.

Leading finishers

1 M Marquez
2 A Marquez
3 Bagnaia
Full results at bottom of page

The elder Marquez had kept the lead off the line, but briefly ceded it to a daring Turn 1 challenge from Pecco Bagnaia, who lunged into first place on the inside of the uphill corner having started only sixth.

Marc quickly responded around the outside of Turn 2, but Bagnaia pulled off another attack into Turn 3 - before yielding to another counter-attack further into the 'snake section'.

But there was more first-lap drama to come, still. A massive rear slide through Turn 17 for Marc, which came oh-so-close to snapping his win streak, allowed both Bagnaia and Alex Marquez through, yet as those two then battled into Turn 19 and both ran wide the door was opened for Marquez to retake the lead again.

It meant that after all that he did lead the first lap, and he then led every other lap, too, despite what looked like tentative signs of a challenge from his brother in the first half of the 10-lap race.

Bagnaia again had no answer for the Marquezes' early pace, so worked to consolidate third, having come under surprise pressure from a surging Fabio Quartararo. Soon enough, however, the Yamaha man was forced into a big save into Turn 15, which dropped him away from Bagnaia and into the heart of a heated intra-team VR46 battle.

That scintillated for much of the race, with Fabio Di Giannantonio ultimately prevailing over Franco Morbidelli and Quartararo to salvage fourth place - having given up his chance at anything better with a less-than-optimal opening lap starting off from the middle of the front row.

Pedro Acosta was the lead KTM in seventh, fighting off Maverick Vinales before the latter parked up in the pits with a yet-unspecified issue.

Acosta was as high as fourth on the opening lap, but made a Turn 12 error, then could never recover as the KTM's pace disappointed again.

In fact, seventh flattered his race - as it came as a result of Joan Mir crashing out while well ahead. Mir's Honda factory team-mate Luca Marini led the manufacturer's efforts instead in eighth.

Acosta's team-mate Brad Binder was ninth at the start of the final lap, but ended up muscled down into 12th place, with Trackhouse Aprilia rookie Ai Ogura snatching the final point on offer instead.

Results

1 Marc Marquez (Ducati)
2 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati)
3 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati)
4 Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati)
5 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati)
6 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)
7 Pedro Acosta (KTM)
8 Luca Marini (Honda)
9 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia)
10 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia)
11 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati)
12 Brad Binder (KTM)
13 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM)
14 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha)
15 Alex Rins (Yamaha)
16 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda)
17 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia)
18 Augusto Fernandez (Pramac Yamaha)
19 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda)
20 Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia)
DNF Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM)
DNF Joan Mir (Honda)