MotoGP™ - Alex Rins stems Marc Márquez’s Austin supremacy

The 2019 Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas, Round 3 of the MotoGPTM World Championship, saw Alex Rins (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) claim the first MotoGPTM win of his career. Valentino Rossi (2nd, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Jack Miller (3rd, Pramac Racing) made it three different bike manufacturers on the Texan podium. 

By qualifying on pole position for his seventh attempt at the Grand Prix of the Americas, Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) seemed to be on target to extend his unbroken run at the American venue to seven wins on the trot.

Having chosen to start the race on medium-compound MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear, the defending champion effectively led the 20-lap race early on and lost no time in posting the fastest race lap to pull out a handsome gap over chasers Rossi and Crutchlow. With five laps completed, his lead stood at two seconds.

The King of COTA squandered his hopes, however, when a mistake on Lap 9 handed top spot to Rossi, while Rins – who had started from seventh on the grid – figured in second place following Crutchlow’s fall on Lap 6.

Rossi, who had qualified second on the grid, and who opted for the same tyre choice as Márquez, defended top spot until four laps from home when he was passed by Rins.

The Suzuki rider (soft- and medium-compound MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear) successfully warded off late pressure from the nine-time world champion to clinch his maiden premier class win and Suzuki’s first since Maverick Viñales’ triumph at Silverstone in 2016.

Third place went to Miller who raced on soft MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear. It was the Australian’s first top-three finish in the colours of Pramac Racing and he was also the first Independent Team rider over the line.

Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) fought back from 13th on the grid to fourth at the flag, ahead of Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) who scored his best-ever MotoGPTM finish.

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati), Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Franceso Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and Takaaki Nagakami (LCR Honda) rounded out the top 10 which featured five of the six bikemakers involved in the championship.

The 2019 Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas provided riders with their first chance of the season to run Michelin’s wet weather tyres during Saturday afternoon’s extremely wet Free Practice 4.

For the race, the 22 riders all chose soft or medium MICHELIN Power Slicks and four of the six possible specifications were used, with three different combinations finishing on the podium.

Dovizioso (54 points) has recovered the provisional lead in the 2019 Riders’ championship, ahead of Rossi (51) and Rins (49). Marc Márquez is fourth on 45 points.

Next race: Gran Premio Red Bull de España, Jerez, Spain (May 3-5).