Marc dominated the race from start to finish to claim his seventh win at Austin, against a Quartararo who had to settle for keeping Pecco under control.
The return of the MotoGP World Championship to the Circuit of the Americas began in humid conditions when heavy rains soaked the asphalt of Austin, Texas, before the first free practice on Friday. However, conditions started to improve towards the end of the session and FP2 was already running smoothly as the sun quickly dried up the water that had fallen during the previous session.
Marc Márquez surpassed FP1 in the wet with a 2'15.872 before going on to dominate the afternoon session. A 2'04.164 saw Marquez overtake Miller and Quartararo. Both riders did fast laps at the end, but ultimately neither could show the pace that Marc maintained during the session.
On the other side of the Repsol Honda garage, Pol Espargaró started the weekend eager to see how he and the Honda RC213V would behave in Texas after the fruitful Misano tests. Both FP1 and FP2 showed Espargaró's potential to put together a good weekend, as he was fifth in both sessions.
The following day, both Marc and Pol achieved their goals during Saturday's first session, both advancing directly to Q2 with fourth and seventh in FP3, respectively.
The Cervera rider took advantage of FP4 to fine-tune his setup for the race and to make a final evaluation of the bumps before running Q2. Already in the qualifying session, Márquez posted a 2'03.209, taking him to the provisional top of the timesheets. A peak that he could not maintain, although the final result was not bad at all, with a third place on the grid.
Pol was not so lucky, as he suffered a crash at Turn 12 during FP4, although he was unscathed from the incident. Already in Q2, # 44 posted a best time of 2'03.875 to occupy 12th place on the grid.
On Sunday, the sun was shining when the lights went out. Marc Márquez and his RC213V rushed forward to follow the leaders from the first corner. From this point on, there was no turning back, as the eight-time world champion set an unbeatable pace from start to finish. Little by little, he was lengthening the distance that separated him from Fabio Quartararo. Ultimately, no one could stop Márquez on Sunday in Austin when he achieved his seventh victory on the American circuit. This result raises his personal win count from to 58 in the premier class and takes him to seventh place in the overall World Championship standings with 117 points.
Pol, for his part, gained a few positions early in the race and moved on to the group that struggled for the top ten. Espargaró was able to maintain a steady pace, finally obtaining tenth place as a reward for his efforts at the GP of the Americas.
The Repsol Honda team will now enjoy a short break after three races and a test in the last four weekends. The action will resume again at the Misano circuit on October 22 for the 16th round of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship season.
Our website uses cookies to offer you a better service.
By selecting your country we can offer you a more personalized view of our product.
