Maverick Vinales, Aprilia MotoGP rider, secured a dominant victory in the 10-lap sprint race at Circuit of the Americas, leading from start to finish.
COTA specialist Marc Marquez and current championship leader Jorge Martin completed the podium, but Vinales was never seriously challenged after making a bold breakaway early on.
After taking the lead early on, Vinales pulled Marquez and rookie Pedro Acosta along with him, distancing themselves from the rest of the pack in the early stages. Vinales then made a decisive move on the third lap, leaving Marquez behind.
This move secured Vinales’ victory, while Marquez focused on defending against Acosta and the advancing Martin, who caught up to their battle after overtaking Enea Bastianini’s Ducati. Marquez finished two seconds behind the leader.
Acosta tried to overtake Marquez, but the six-time champion quickly regained his position, leaving the rookie vulnerable to an aggressive move from Martin on the pit straight.
Marquez, who struggled in the first sector and nearly crashed on the fifth lap, managed to maintain his pace and prevent Martin from getting close enough to attack.
There was a brief moment of hope for Marquez when Vinales made a braking error at Turn 12, but Vinales quickly recovered and continued his dominant performance, finishing 2.3 seconds ahead of the rest.
Acosta finished fourth and narrowly avoided being overtaken by Vinales’ teammate Aleix Espargaro on the final lap, with just a tenth of a second separating them at the finish line.
Bastianini initially struggled with pace, but found his rhythm in the second half of the race after dropping behind Jack Miller’s KTM. Bastianini made a successful overtaking move on Miller at the final corner of the penultimate lap and secured seventh place by passing him at Turn 12 on the final lap.
Bagnaia, the reigning champion, had a tough race. His Ducati hit the front tire at the start line, causing him to drop from fourth to tenth. Like Bastianini, Bagnaia had difficulties in the early stages, but managed to overtake Franco Morbidelli and Raul Fernandez on the final lap to finish in eighth place.
Fernandez held onto ninth place, earning a point for Trackhouse in his American debut.
The race was eventful at the back of the pack, with three of the four Honda riders suffering accidents – Takaaki Nakagami, Joan Mir, and Johann Zarco. However, none of them were in contention for points. The only remaining Honda, Luca Marini, finished nearly five seconds behind the second-to-last place.
Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 Gas Gas) also had a crash, while Fabio Di Giannantonio suffered an apparent engine failure in his 2023 Ducati, causing a huge cloud of smoke on the first lap.
Bastianini is currently Martin’s closest rival in the championship standings, but is behind by a comfortable margin of 24 points.
