Texas MotoGP commercial! Record-breaking Viñales achieves perfect weekend after thrilling race in USA

Maverick Viñales back on top after a hard-earned victory in the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas! The 29-year-old Spaniard completed a perfect weekend after triumphs in qualifying, sprint yesterday and today’s main race. He added to that the record of the first man in the modern World Championship era to celebrate a victory on three different makes of motorcycle. The reborn Viñales was accompanied on the podium by the increasingly stunning Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastinanini. Championship leader Jorge Martín finished fourth ahead of reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia.

For its third stop of the season, the World Road Motorcycle Championship crossed the Atlantic for a single race on the American continent. The Circuit of the Americas in Texas has hosted MotoGP races since 2013, but only three different riders have triumphed there. The current undisputed ruler of the circuit, Marc Márquez, has dominated the VC of the Americas a total of seven times, most recently three years ago on a factory Honda.

But it was Maverick Viñales whose weekend in America could not have gone any better. The Spanish rider of the factory Aprilia first dominated the qualifying sessions on Saturday morning and then dominated the 10-lap sprint a few hours later. He was joined on the small podium by Márquez, hoping for an eighth success in Texas, and championship leader Jorge Martín.

A fond memory of Assen 2018

Viñales started the MotoGP main event from pole position, looking to repeat his unusually good run off the grid. However, the Spaniard unfortunately continued his infamous tradition by dropping several positions again.

That opened the door to a maiden MotoGP lead for rookie Pedro Acosta, who exited the circuit’s first corner ahead of Bastianini and Martín, who had the best of the packed pack of riders. Conversely, it was Viñales who lost further places in the squeeze, including his teammate Aleix Espargar.

Certainly the next generation talent Acosta was already leading the race in only his third MotoGP grand prix, but for the opening few corners he held off several badly encroaching riders now led by Martín. Last year’s World Vice-Champion lost patience with Acosta on the second lap, when he sent the first crash of cautionary incursions at him. In all cases, the 19-year-old Mazzarón native matured against the current championship leader.

Martín’s onslaught on Acosta continued for the next two laps, and it was only in the fourth that the former was able to successfully attack the race lead. The GasGas driver took another imaginary blow from former pursuers Márquez and Bagnai, who lined up ahead of him in second and third place respectively.

The race didn’t settle down after further battles between Acosta, Márquez and Bagnai, which allowed Martín to build a small margin. Very easily, the first part of the VC Americas gave a flashback to the 2018 Dutch Tourist Trophy, which has gone down in the history books as arguably the most entertaining race in the history of the sport.

A missed opportunity for Márquez, Viñales made a comeback of the season

A brief glance at the other end of the grid continued the bad dream for the once invincible Honda. Both Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami retired on lap seven after crashing. A few laps later, regular knock-down Joan Mir also put his machine down. This left Honda empty-handed after Luca Marini’s final 16th place finish in the USA.

After a breathtaking opening period, the race settled down relatively. Leader Martín maintained a steady pace, with the battles in the leading group dying down, leaving Bastianini and Jack Miller circling around sixth place to take care of the action. However, Viñales came back into the podium picture like a bolt from the blue. First he took on Bastianini and Miller and then on lap nine he took on Bagnaiu on his second attempt.

The spectators were only relieved from the battles at the front of the race for a few minutes. Suddenly Martín lost his relatively comfortable lead, which allowed Acosta and Márquez to get back into the battle for the win. It didn’t take long for Acosta to regain the race lead from Martín, who also lost ground to Márquez. The eight-time champion subsequently shot into the lead, but very quickly extricated himself from it.

Viñales then leapt back onto the podium and incredibly quickly began to cut his teeth on a return to the top spot after falling outside the top 10. Like water poured over him, Viñales humbled both Martín and Acosta and by lap 13 was back to where he had been all weekend. While Acosta matched Viñales’ rapid pace quite solidly, Martín fell to the factory Ducati riders in the group for third.

Only Bastianini overtook Martín by the end of the race, while Bagnai lacked the speed to pick up more valuable points in his title defence. Viñales finished the race with complete control, becoming the first rider since the start of the modern MotoGP era to win on a bike from three different manufacturers (Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia). Acosta scored his second podium in a row, with Bastianini finishing third ahead of Martín and Bagnaia.

USA MotoGP Grand Prix results (race 3/21, 20 laps = 110.260 km; top 10 only):

1. Maverick Viñales (Sp., Aprilia) 41:09.503
2. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) +1.728
3. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) +2.703
4. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) +4.690
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) +7.392
6. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) +9.980
7. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) +12.208
8. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) +13.343
9. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) +14.931
10. Raúl Fernández (Span., Aprilia) +16.656

2024 MotoGP rider standings (after 3/21; top 10 only):

1. Jorge Martín (Spa., Ducati) 80 points
2. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) 59
3. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) 56
4. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) 54
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 50
6. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 49
7. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) 39
8. Marc Márquez (Span., Ducati) 36
9. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) 25
10. Jack Miller (Aus., KTM) 22

Source: MotoGP, X