After leading racer Marc Marquez crashed for the first time this season, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia won the chaotic Americas Grand Prix ahead of Alex Marquez from Gresini Racing.
Marquez had won the weekend’s qualifying race and a third straight sprint victory, but the six-time MotoGP champion decided to retire in the wake of extensive damage to his bike in Sunday’s main race.
Alex Marquez will leave Austin with the bigger smile as he moves up to the top of the MotoGP riders’ championship with 87 points, one point ahead of his older brother Marc, who is 75 points ahead of Bagnaia.
As Alex was unable to catch up with Fabio Di Giannantonio, who finished third, Ducati did it again clean sweep of the podium.
“I’m so happy, I’m already without my voice.” After eating a celebratory hot dog in the paddock, Bagnaia yelled out loud.
What a relief to return to the top of the podium after such a challenging period.
When the sun briefly came out, there was chaos even before the race started, and riders who had previously chosen to use wet tires hurriedly returned to pits to switch bikes before choosing slicks on a drying track, which caused a red flag.
When the 19-lap race finally arrived, Marc Marquez had a flawless launch off the line, leading both his brother and Bagnaia before peeled away and took over the lead by more than a second at the end of the first lap.
Bagnaia had previously finished second to the Marquez brothers in previous races and sprints, and the Italian was determined to finish higher by using Alex’s slipstream to overtake the Gresini rider and place second on lap four.
Marquez crashes
Marc Marquez appeared to be in command of the race lap record, but on lap nine, the Spaniard abruptly slammed off the track, putting his hopes on a record-extending eighth victory at the Circuit of the Americas in ruins.
As the race progressed, Bagnaia’s eyes lit up behind him, and the double world champion took advantage of the opportunity to close the gap on his championship teammate, extending his lead over Alex.
After less than five laps, Marc gave up and put his bike back in the pits to retire. He attempted to ride on without a foot peg and a screen.
Alex finished second for a third straight race, but Bagnaia eventually took the lead by two seconds over him.
“We are currently in command of the championship,” the leader says. Being Mr. Seconds also pays off, Alex chuckled. We are Mr. Seconds.
It marked Di Giannantonio’s first podium appearance since 2023 in Qatar, the location of the upcoming round.
The Italian said, “I’m just speechless, tired, and I need about 200 beers this night to recover.”
“For sure, Marc gave us a small gift. But that’s racing, really?
The top five were topped by his teammate Jack Miller and Franco Morbidelli from Pramac Racing.
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