Marc Marquez maintained his perfect record at the Austin MotoGP race with a clear fourth victory at the Circuit of the Americas.
The Spaniard secured his second win of the season at the Grand Prix of the Americas, after starting from pole position.
Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo took the lead on the run to the first corner but the Yamaha rider ran wide at the tight uphill hairpin, opening the door for Marquez to reclaim first place.
Marquez quickly pulled away from the chasing pack and the Repsol Honda rider was able to finish six seconds clear of Lorenzo, with Ducati’s Andrea Iannone a distant third.
Valentino Rossi qualified on the front row and challenged for the lead at the start but an early crash at Turn 2 for the Yamaha rider meant he picked up his first retirement since Aragon in 2014.
Fellow front-runners Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso also crashed out. The former lost control of his bike into Turn 1, with his Honda sliding into Dovizioso’s Ducati and taking him out of the race. Pedrosa continued but eventually retired.
The Suzuki pairing of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro continued their strong form and benefitted from problems for their rivals to finish fourth and fifth, ahead of Scott Redding and Pol Espargaro.
Michele Pirro, Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl rounded out the top 10. As well as Rossi and Pedrosa, British riders Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith suffered falls at the 11th corner at the mid-way point. They both continued but failed to recover the ground lost.
RACE RESULT:
