In an exciting race at Circuit of the Americas, Maverick Vinales, from Aprilia MotoGP, emerged as the unlikely winner after starting in 11th place. This victory made Vinales the first rider in the MotoGP era to win races with three different manufacturers in the premier class. His choice of the medium rear tire, also used by rookie Pedro Acosta, who finished second, proved to be advantageous as the other front runners opted for the soft rear tire. Vinales faced a challenging start but managed to work his way through the pack and secure the win.
Jorge Martin, who was expected to be a strong contender, could not break away from the group due to Acosta’s impressive performance. Despite several attempts to overtake Acosta, Martin was passed on every corner exit. Pecco Bagnaia also made progress by overtaking Enea Bastianini and gaining two more positions when Jack Miller and Marc Marquez had a slight collision.
On the fourth lap, Martin finally managed to pass Acosta, giving the impression that he could secure the win. However, the discrepancy between the soft and medium rear tires started to play a role. Martin fell back and was overtaken by Bagnaia and Acosta. Marquez also passed both riders, but unfortunately crashed while leading the race.
Meanwhile, Vinales steadily moved up through the pack, overtaking several riders including Fabio Di Giannantonio, Alex Rins, Alex Marquez, and Bastianini. He quickly caught up to the front group and climbed to fourth place. Marquez’s crash promoted him to third, and he eventually passed Martin to secure second place.
Vinales then focused on overtaking Acosta, successfully defending against his first attempt, but eventually making a pass to take the lead. From there, Vinales held his position and secured the victory, with Acosta settling for second place. Martin struggled to maintain his pace and was overtaken by Bastianini on the penultimate lap.
With this win, Vinales reduced the gap to championship leader Martin. Bastianini is now 21 points behind Martin, with Vinales and Acosta as the only other riders within 30 points of the leader. Bagnaia’s fifth place solidified his position in the championship standings.
Other notable performances include Di Giannantonio in sixth place as the top rider on a last year’s Ducati, followed by Aleix Espargaro, Marco Bezzecchi, and Brad Binder. Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez achieved a top-ten result in his first home Grand Prix. Miller, on the other hand, struggled in the second half of the race and finished in 13th place.
Several riders, including Marquez and his brother Aleix, suffered falls during the race. Last year’s winner, Rins, and Joan Mir also crashed, as did Franco Morbidelli, who was on course for a top-ten finish. Both LCR Honda riders, Takaaki Nakagami and Johann Zarco, failed to finish the race.
