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Written by Nina Rogerson
A new King of COTA is crowned as Alex Rins wins the Grand Prix of the Americas after a costly mistake from the World Champion.
Image via @motogp on Facebook
It was a perfect start for Francesco Bagnaia as he took the hole shot from pole position with LCR’s Alex Rins following closely behind. The dramatics started on the first lap with Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) crashing out and taking Gresini’s Alex Marquez with him. Aleix Espargaro also did not make it past the first lap as he was down and out on the Factory Aprilia.
It was a great start from Aussie Jack Miller who managed to fight through the field from 10th on the grid to put himself in 3rd. Monster Energy Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo also had a good start and got himself to 4th position with Mooney VR46 rider Luca Marini rounding off the top 5.
The Aussie’s hopes for a first podium as a KTM rider fell away from him as he crashed on lap 7 which therefore promoted Fabio Quartararo up to a podium position. On the same lap, Raul Fernandez retired due to a mechanical problem after making a decent start on his satellite Aprilia.
It was only a lap later when Bagnaia’s woes from the start of last season came back to haunt him. Rins was piling the pressure on the Italian and Bagnaia crashed out of the lead, not for the first time this season. Rins pushed on from the front and brought home his first victory of the season and Honda’s first victory in 18 months.
Image via @motogp on Facebook
Image via @motogp on Facebook
With the crashes out front, Quartararo had been promoted to 2nd and Marini was now in the podium positions. Marini was right on the tail of Quartararo before the Italian decided it was time to make the move on the Frenchman. Marini then put the hammer down to try and catch Rins, but it wasn’t enough. Marini brought it home in 2nd for his first Premier Class podium and Quartararo finished in 3rd for his first podium of the season.
The battle for 4th was between Maverick Vinales, Miguel Oliveira and Marco Bezzecchi. Factory Aprilia rider Vinales was able to put on an incredible defence to bring home the 4th place with his satellite Aprilia compatriot Miguel Oliveira following him home in 5th. Bezzecchi fought off Johann Zarco to take 6th and because of Bagnaia’s crash, he manages to extend his championship lead.
It was fairly quiet towards the back of the field with Franco Morbidelli riding a lonely race in 8th place with an 8 second gap between him and Fabio Digiannantonio who brought it home in 9th. Diggia was closely followed by rookie Augusto Fernandez who crossed the line in 10th.
It was fairly quiet towards the back of the field with Franco Morbidelli riding a lonely race in 8th place with an 8 second gap between him and Fabio Digiannantonio who brought it home in 9th. Diggia was closely followed by rookie Augusto Fernandez who crossed the line in 10th.
The replacement riders of the weekend, Michele Pirro and Jonas Folger who were both standing in for the injured Enea Bastianni, Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez brought it home in 11th and 12th respectively. KTM’s Brad Binder was the last of the finishers after crashing on lap 12 and then re-joining to finish in 13th to score some championship points.
Despite the winning trophy going the way of a Honda, it was not a great day for the Japanese Factory with their three other riders, Stefan Bradl, Joan Mir and, Takaaki Nakagami joining the list of non-finishers in what was truly a race of attrition.
We go back to Europe for the next round of the season as the Grand Prix weekend in Jerez kicks off in just under 2 weeks’ time!
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