Photography by Gold & Goose
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez turned in another amazing display of skill Sunday in the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas by taking the lead on lap five, stretching it out and holding his margin the rest of the way at between three and four seconds. He slowed in celebration on the final straight coming to the checkered flag and that allowed the margin of victory over second-place Andrea Dovizioso, on the factory Ducati, to be just 2.354 seconds. Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi took third, 3.120 seconds back from the winner.
The win was the third consecutive at the Circuit of the Americas for Marquez and was the 20th MotoGP victory of his career.
Rossi’s finish was good enough to preserve the series lead for Rossi by a single point over Dovizioso. Marquez leaves Texas, in third, just five points back.
Water dripping from a pedestrian bridge onto the track delayed the start of the race by about a half hour.
The start saw Dovizioso jumping to the early lead with Marquez and Rossi in tow. Scott Redding crashed at turn 11 taking out Pol Espargaro in the process.
The end of lap one saw Dovi leading from Marquez, Rossi and fast starting Bradley Smith and Lorenzo.
For the first few laps Dovizioso’s Ducati was working perfectly and he was able to stretch it out a bit over Marquez and Rossi, who ran nose to tail.
Bradl was an early faller in turn one and was out of the race, but up and OK.
On lap five Marquez took over the lead on turn 11, was briefly repassed, but went back by Dovi on turn 12 to hold the lead. Once in the lead Marquez poured on the coals and tried to break away from the field. Rossi was desperately looking for a way around Dovizioso, but Dovi’s Ducati was very strong speed-wise on the straights making a pass difficult. On lap seven Rossi made a lunge, but couldn’t make the pass on Dovizioso stick.
Meanwhile Marquez was disappearing already having pushed his lead to over a second.
Rossi finally made the pass on Dovizioso, the two nearly hitting tire to tire, but Rossi ultimately could not shake off the Ducatis of Dovi and Iannone and the trio would race together for much of the rest of the race.
Mid-stages and it was Lorenzo passing Smith for fifth – Cal Crutchlow likewise on Aleix Espargaro on the Suzuki.
As Marquez controlled his lead late at just over three seconds, it was Dovizioso getting back ahead of Rossi with an inside move in turn three. Iannone was right there and Lorenzo closing in on that group as well, threatening to make it a four-rider battle for second.
With three to go Lorenzo made a brilliant pass on Iannone , an outside-inside move through the esses to take over fourth.
In the closing laps Marquez controlled his lead from the front. Rossi, in third, was unable to mount an attack on Dovi. Lorenzo was now a lonely fourth with Iannone fading, but having enough in hand to hold off a surging Smith to round out the top five. Cal Crutchlow, Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales and Danilo Petrucci rounded out the top 10.
Nicky Hayden got the better of Jack Miller after a race-long battle for 13th. It marked Hayden’s 200th MotoGP start for Hayden. He joins just three other riders in the history of the championship to reach that number of starts in the premier class.
“It was important to get this victory after Qatar,” Marquez said. “We recovered some points (on Rossi) with Dovi finishing second. Valentino has been very constant, so we will have to work very hard over the next few races. In the beginning I tried to save the tires and then I pushed for a few laps and I gained a bit of distance.”
The series moves next weekend to Argentina.
Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas MotoGP result from Austin, Texas, April 12, 2015
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 43m 47.150s
2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 43m 49.504s
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 43m 50.270s
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 43m 53.832s
5. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 43m 54.734s
6. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 43m 57.707s
7. Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda (RC213V) 44m 4.117s
8. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 44m 6.175s
9. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 44m 25.720s
10. Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.1) 44m 28.946s
11. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 44m 34.349s
12. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 44m 34.489s
13. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar (RC213V-RS) 44m 43.634s
14. Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda (RC213V-RS) 44m 43.881s
15. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 44m 44.522s
16. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar (RC213V-RS) 44m 46.048s
17. Loris Baz FRA Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 44m 55.937s
18. Alex De Angelis RSM Octo IodaRacing (ART) 45m 9.386s
Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RC213V-RS) DNF
Marco Melandri ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF
Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) DNF
Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) DNF
Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) DNF
Stefan Bradl GER Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) DNF
Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) DNF
