MOTO GP

Bastianini back to top

The Italian Enea Bastianini has won his second victory in the MotoGP World Championship with an unappealable victory in the Grand Prix of the Americas, where Álex Rins slipped between the Ducati to end up beating the Australian Jack Miller two corners from the end. After being last at the start, Marc Márquez climbed 18 places to finish in sixth final position.

The lights went out and the Ducatis, who had taken the top 5 on the grid, exchanged positions with Jack Miller overtaking Jorge Martín in the presence of Pecco Bagnaia. It was expected to see Marc Márquez making up positions from ninth place on the grid, but the king of Austin did not appear at the first corner.

The explanation is that his Honda had decided not to deliver all the power at the start and had seen how absolutely everyone passed him on the same start, with Darryn Binder miraculously avoiding him.

That implied dividing the attention of the race in two, and so did the production, which while showing what was happening in front, reserved a small screen for the comeback of '93, which began to gain positions like a man possessed. In just five minutes he had already won ten, one of them due to the fall of Marco Bezzecchi.

Obviously, the difficult part started there, with the fast riders. Even so, the eighth champion exhibited a tremendous pace that allowed him not to give up time with his head while he continued beating drivers until he slipped into the top ten. Things were not going so well for his brother Álex Márquez, who was the star of the second fall of the race.

Ahead was Álex Rins who broke Ducati's hegemony, penetrating the red wall, overtaking a hesitant Pecco Bagnaia to take fourth and shortly after Johann Zarco, thus peeking out of the doors of the podium, which at that time was closed by an Enea Bastianini who gave the feeling of being expectant and how after Miller and Martin. Like letting the turns pass.

It was perceived that the Ducati were going to end up disseminating themselves through the top ten and that is how it happened: while Bastianini and Rins passed Martín, Joan Mir also slipped in among the reds, surpassing Bagnaia, and Zarco faded until he ended up being surpassed by Fabio Quartararo... and by Marc Márquez, who was eighth with better pace than anyone.

Entering the decisive third, the front group was finally beginning to crack: only Bastianini and Rins could keep up with Miller, with Gresini's overtaking the official when Suzuki's seemed to stay; leaving Mir, Bagnaia and Martín further behind. The next one was already Márquez, who took Quartararo with him until he surpassed the poleman, who suffered more and more.

Márquez was already sixth and seemed to be his best, since his pace was beginning to falter and he had to defend himself against the tough Quartararo, which surely prevented both of them from hunting down a Bagnaia who once again saw how the podium made him cobra in this 2022. Just like Joan Mir, who gritted her teeth to get ahead but it was too late.

Enea Bastianini was on her own, who as soon as she was in the lead set a pace that no one could follow to set course for her second victory of the season after the one achieved in the inaugural race in Qatar. The excitement moved behind, where Álex Rins reached Jack Miller and, after an unsuccessful first attempt, passed him two corners from the end to avoid the Ducati double and achieve his second consecutive podium.

Joan Mir entered no man's land to repeat Argentina's fourth position, with Pecco Bagnaia also repeating fifth place from a week ago. Sixth entered Marc Márquez, who after winning a whopping 18 positions had to defend himself against Fabio Quartararo, certifying an epic and bittersweet comeback, knowing that without the problem of starting he had the pace to win.

Jorge Martín entered eighth followed by Johann Zarco, with Maverick Viñales tenth after beating his teammate Aleix Espargaró by three tenths in the presence of Brad Binder and with Pol Espargaró saving three points in a weekend complicated by his stomach problems. Raúl Fernández finished 19th.

Autonews