Circuit: Circuit of the Americas Laps: 20 (110.26 Km) Lap Record: 2:86:40 Vinales
Francesco Bagnaia was eager to recover from a challenging Sprint and he set about overtaking both Miller and Marquez before closing the gap down to the top two.
On the third lap, Martin overtook Acosta with an audacious block pass going into the sixth turn, with Marquez displacing Bagnaia into Turn 8 and then Acosta at Turn 11. The following lap saw Bagnaia catch Acosta napping into Turn 1. Despite his best attempts to match the late-braking Italian, Acosta was unable to come back through.
Marquez was once again placing his Gresini bike in danger as he touched the rear of Martin’s Pramac as he angled to mount an overtake into the final corner on Lap 6.
Acosta was not done with Bagnaia and sliced past the reigning Motogp champion in a role-reversal move, with Marquez following suit into Turn 8 to get back into third.
Vinales, having dropped to 11th, had produced a blistering pace whilst making efficient moves through to sixth before then passing Miller into Turn 2 with 13 laps to go. Both LCR Honda riders fell from their bikes on the same lap as Zarco and Nakagami’s race ended at the rear of the grid, resigning the former to a double COTA retirement.
Likewise, Franco Morbidelli became detached from his Pramac on the next lap, meaning his run of failing to see the chequered flag extended to a third consecutive race.
The chaos continued as the field circled round to the next lap as another Honda retirement occurred, with Repsol Honda man Joan Mir falling down in the opening sector. Back on track, Bagnaia and Vinales went toe-to-toe and swapped positions. While the Spaniard drifted wide into Turn 1, he positioned his Aprilia to get through at Turn 2.
Acosta and Marquez had both caught leader Martin unaware as the rookie headed a Motogp race once again it was shortlived as COTA specialist Marquez nabbed first.
However, Marquez would surrender the chance to land a memorable win at one of his most prolific venues as he crashed his Gresini at Turn 11 before the back straight. Marquez revealed that he carried too much speed into Turn 11 and lost the front, but also cited that it had come about due to an “unexpected brake problem”.
Expanding further, the Spaniard said it was “disappointing especially because I was feeling good, I was feeling hard, strong. But yeah, I’m more disappointed because today the speed was there, the feeling was there, but I had more unexpected problems with the front brake during all the race that give me a lot of difficulties to ride.”
The Faenza-based squad’s woes would be compounded as Alex Marquez on the sister bike also retired, with Marc’s error allowing Vinales to latch onto the leading pack.
(Below) Acosta wasn’t afraid to battle championship leader Martin
(Bottom) It was another race weekend to forget for Zarco, who endured a double DNF
Having made an overtake on Martin to seize second place, Vinales then set about placing his bike in prime position to catch the leading contender, Acosta on the Gasgas.
Despite his impressive start which saw him as high as eighth at a point, Rins lost the back end of his Yamaha, resulting in his first DNF for the Japanese manufacturer.
Acosta was powerless to prevent a rampant Vinales from coming past at the first time of asking at Turn 11 with eight laps to go and into a lead he would not relinquish. With each lap that occurred the Aprilia rider sustained a gap over the rookie and avoided a late scare to win by over 1.5 seconds come the chequered flag in Austin, Texas.
Vinales’ win means he is the first rider in the Motogp era to win on three different manufacturers, having also triumphed on both Suzuki and Yamaha bikes.
When asked whether that was his best win to date in Motogp, Vinales replied: “Obviously yes. The one I appreciated most, a lot of hard days of work and overthinking if I was still obviously able to be on the top but the belief I had in myself was huge. I knew that since the first day I was at Aprilla I will achieve it but not in that way. Congratulations also to my family who are with me every day. I hope they feel the kind of happiness I’m feeling.”
Acosta’s calm and composed second place propels him well into the championship hunt, making it back-to-back Motogp podiums for the rookie who continues to impress.
“Aside from the result, it was an incredible race, you cannot imagine how much I enjoyed overtaking the boys.” Acosta reflected. “We have nothing to
lose and we are more than happy [with the result].” A late overtake from Ducati’s Bastianini meant he pipped Martin to the final podium place, with Bagnaia completing the top five to cap a challenging weekend for the Italian.
Bastianini expressed: “It’s beautiful to be on the podium because from yesterday we tried to get a top five [finish], but my confidence came lap by lap and my best point is the last part of the race. It’s good to be on the podium.” When discussing about the GP24 bike, he stated that his physical condition has improved and that he can be more competitive. “This race has been really hard and it was important for me to understand how was my shoulder, [after struggling with injuries] so we can very happy about this.”
VR46 Ducati duo Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi endured an exciting race, as both finished sixth and eighth with Aleix Espargaro lodged in between the pair. Brad Binder struggled all weekend but when it mattered most he put in a big shift to come ninth, with Trackhouse duo Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveria 10th and 11th.
Quartararo was unable to celebrate his Yamaha contract renewal with a headline result but came home as the Japanese marque’s highest-placed rider in 12th position.
Miller was struggled to remain at the front due to tyre degradation, the KTM rider falling down the grid to finish a poor 13th, a whole 10 seconds behind team-mate Binder.
Augusto Fernandez once again finished as the worst KTM rider, with Alex Marquez coming 15th after being able to recover the bike from his accident earlier in the race.
Luca Marini finished as the only classified Honda rider but was still unable to get any points on the board for the season as he finished in dead last. Both LCR Honda riders, Marquez, Rins and Morbidelli failed to recover from crashes during the race, ensuring that their weekend at COTA ended in vast disappointment.