Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia gained a chaotic Americas Grand Prix forward of Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez on Sunday after chief Marc Marquez crashed midway by way of the race to lose for the primary time this season.
Marquez had clinched pole place in qualifying in addition to a 3rd consecutive dash victory on Saturday, however after a primary crash on the crimson Ducati, the six-times MotoGP champion opted to retire as a result of in depth harm on his bike.
Although Bagnaia took the chequered flag to maneuver as much as 75 factors, Alex Marquez will go away Austin with the larger smile as ending second moved him to the highest of the championship on 87 factors, one level forward of his elder brother Marc.
Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 Racing tried to catch as much as Alex however ran out of laps as he completed third to present Ducati one other clear sweep of the rostrum.
“I’m tremendous comfortable, I’m already with out [my] voice, I screamed out loud,” Bagnaia mentioned after he had a celebratory scorching canine within the paddock.
“What a implausible feeling, to be again on the highest step of the rostrum after such a troublesome interval.”
Even earlier than the race started, there was chaos when the solar briefly got here out and riders who had opted for moist tyres immediately sprinted again to the pits to swap their bikes, choosing slicks on a drying monitor, resulting in a crimson flag.
When the 19-lap race finally obtained underneath means, Marc Marquez had an ideal launch off the road, main his brother and Bagnaia earlier than he peeled away and established a lead of over a second by the tip of the opening lap.
Bagnaia had been ending behind the Marquez brothers in earlier races and sprints, and the Italian was decided to complete increased, utilizing Alex’s slipstream to overhaul the Gresini rider and take second place on lap 4.
Marc Marquez Crashes
Marc appeared to be in cruise management as he set a race lap file however the Spaniard immediately slid off the monitor on lap 9, seeing his hope of a record-extending eighth victory on the Circuit of the Americas go up in smoke.
Behind him, Bagnaia’s eyes lit up and the twice world champion grabbed the chance to shut the hole to his teammate within the championship, extending his lead over Alex because the race wore on.
Marc tried to experience on with out a foot peg and a display however lower than 5 laps later, he gave up and nursed his bike again into the pits to retire.
Bagnaia finally gained with a two-second lead over Alex, who had no drawback ending second for a 3rd straight race.
“Now we’re main the championship, one thing that’s actually nice. We’re Mr Seconds, however [being] Mr Seconds additionally pays off,” Alex mentioned with a smile.
For Di Giannantonio, it was a primary podium since 2023 in Qatar, the place the following spherical will likely be held.
“I’m simply speechless, drained…. Truthfully, I would like like 200 beers this night time to get better,” the Italian mentioned.
“For positive we obtained just a little reward from Marc. However hey, that’s racing.”
His teammate Franco Morbidelli and Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller accomplished the highest 5.
SA’s Brad Binder (KTM) retired with technical points.
Reuters
