Marc Marquez led every single lap and went on to win the Grand Prix of Americas, picking up his second MotoGP win this season. Injury forced the Repsol Honda rider to break his winning streak at Austin last year, but he returned this season to score a commanding seventh win at the venue.
Fabio Quartararo, meanwhile, finished second to further extend his championship lead, while Francesco Bagnaia finished third.
- Marquez wins by 4.479 secs
- Quartararo extends title lead to 52 points
- Mir handed penalty for clash with Miller
Commanding win for Marquez
It was a near-perfect race for Marquez. Starting from third on the grid, he moved into the lead in the run up to the first corner. From there on, he set about further consolidating that lead and was 2.3 secs clear of Quartararo with 11 laps to go.
With the title in play, Quartararo wasn’t going to take any unnecessary risks and this resulted in Marquez enjoying a rather peaceful ride to victory. He crossed the line to hand Repsol Honda its 450th podium in the premier class.
“The plan was to do exactly what we did today: Start well and fight into the first corner, take the first few laps a bit easy and then when the tyres start to drop a little bit, that’s when I would start to push,” Marquez said.
“It’s exactly what I did and I saw the gap increasing with my lap times in 2mins 04 sec highs, very consistent and comfortable. In the last few laps, I was very tired and it wasn’t easy to keep my concentration, but Fabio was far behind and my instincts said he would not risk anything as he’s fighting for the championship. Today is a great day, I want to say thanks to the whole of HRC and the Repsol Honda Team who have worked so well all weekend,” he added.
Quartararo extends MotoGP lead
Quartararo will have his first opportunity to seal the title at the next round at Misano.
Bagnaia initially struggled to keep pace with the top five, but he eventually found his rhythm. However, he did lose ground in the title fight as a result. Alex Rins benefitted from Jorge Martin being handed a long lap penalty to take fourth place, while Martin settled for fifth.
Enea Bastianini finished sixth, profiting from the clash between Joan Mir and Jack Miller on the very last lap. Mir initially crossed the line in seventh place, but was handed a one-place penalty for the incident, dropping him to eighth behind Miller.
Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro completed the top 10.
2021 MotoGP championship standings
With three races to go, Quartararo has a 52-point advantage over Bagnaia in the championship. Mir, meanwhile, is 27 points behind Bagnaia.
This means Quartararo could very well wrap up the title when MotoGP heads to Misano on October 24.
2021 Americas MotoGP results
