Marquez wins stunning fifth consecutive victory at COTA

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) stormed to a superb victory at the Circuit of the Americas this afternoon, his fifth consecutive success at the complex Texan track. The win also continues the reigning MotoGP World Champion’s remarkable run of 11 unbeaten races in the USA at COTA, Indianapolis and Laguna Seca; nine in the MotoGP class and two in Moto2.

The 24-year-old had to work very hard for his first win of 2017, mostly with team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) who rode a brilliant race, grabbing the lead from the second row of the grid and leading the way until just before half-distance, when Marquez eased ahead. Pedrosa fought back to briefly retake the lead, then settled into a battle for second with Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). Rossi’s team-mate Maverick Vinales crashed out in the early stages.

COTA practice and qualifying were as thrilling as the race, with Marquez and Vinales swapping positions throughout Friday and Saturday. Finally Marquez overcame his compatriot in the final lap of qualifying to complete a remarkable run of five consecutive COTA pole positions. Yesterday’s pole was also Marquez’s 67^th across the three categories, an all-time record in Grand Prix racing.

Today’s conditions were considerably warmer than yesterday, prompting Marquez to make a late change to a hard-compound front slick, which he hadn’t used since Friday, when track temperatures were the hottest of the weekend. The 24-year-old therefore made sure not to take risks in the early stages of the race, until he had the full measure of the tyre. His pace during the second half was sensational. He soon left Pedrosa in second place, the 31-year-old struggling with a lack of front grip from the medium-compound front slick he had chosen. At the finish Marquez crossed the line three seconds ahead of Rossi.

Pedrosa kept riding superbly, but Rossi came past three laps from the flag because Pedrosa was unable to defend his positon due to his front grip issues. Two weeks ago in Argentina both Pedrosa and Marquez fell after losing the front, so they were both determined to make sure they saw the chequered flag today. As a result they scored the team’s first podiums of 2017.

Marquez’s 56^th win across all three Grand Prix classes keeps him sixth overall in the all-time victories league and moves him into third place in the 2017 MotoGP World Championship battle, behind Rossi and Vinales. The MotoGP showdown now moves to Spain in a fortnight’s time, the home race for both Marquez and Vinales.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda RC213V) had another excellent race, following up his fighting third-place finish in Argentina with another hard-charging ride to fourth, completing the 21 laps just seven seconds behind Marquez, a difference of just 0.36 seconds per lap. The result puts the winner of last year’s Czech and Australian GPs fifth overall in the 2017 series and top independent-team rider, aboard his RC213V.

Australian youngster Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) continued his early season promise, recording his third top-ten finish in a row, chasing home three-time MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati)

Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) took the chequered flag 11 seconds behind his team-mate, happy to score points for 13^th place and take another step forward with his recovery from injuries sustained in preseason testing.

The MotoGP circus now returns to Europe – after 2017 season-openers in Qatar, Argentina and Texas – with the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez on May 7^th.

Marc Marquez

“This was a crucial race because after Argentina it was important to come back in the best way, so we are really happy with this result. Although I won, it was difficult, because the temperature was much higher than yesterday. Five minutes before the start, I said to my chief mechanic, ‘Okay, let’s use the hard tyre’ because I knew that I would push the medium front tyre a lot. In the beginning I was just trying to understand the limit because I hadn’t tried it a lot on Friday. I was behind Dani and when I saw that he was struggling a little bit and Valentino was challenging, I said, ‘time to attack.’ I was able to win, and I’m happy to be back in the championship.”

Dani Pedrosa

“I’m happy because we made some steps forward today, and overall this weekend was positive. We made some good improvements from the last races, and also in practice we were higher up in the results. Qualifying still wasn’t as good as I’d have liked, but today were able to get a good start and arrive first to turn one. It was the first time I’ve done that in a while, and I led the race for a few laps, which is good. In the end it was difficult to manage the front tyre. I could feel that the right side was finished, so I couldn’t prevent Valentino from passing me. After the crash in Argentina, I wanted to avoid losing the front, so I just tried to finish.”

Cal Crutchlow

“That was a good race for us. I felt confident because my team did a fantastic job. I was just a bit disappointed that we didn’t make it onto the podium because it was very close. I lost some time running off the track and then a bit more with Zarco. The main thing is that I felt confident on the bike and I felt physically strong, so I could keep pushing. I wanted a top-three result here, but third in Argentina and fourth here are good results, so I hope we can carry this momentum into the first race in Europe and beyond.”

Jack Miller

“I had good speed from the start of the race but it is just so difficult to overtake, I was losing so much time off the slow corners and it is not easy to make it up in the braking zones. All I could was wait and hope Lorenzo made a mistake and then towards the end of the race I lost some feeling with front. It was another solid result, I got some points with a top ten finish and learnt a lot.”

Tito Rabat

“I am very happy for this result because today I understood many things by going a little slower at the beginning and then faster towards the end of the race. And in the normal conditions of today’s race I was closer to the front guys and this is good for my confidence. To score points in the opening three races of the season is a very good start and a boost in advance of the next race at home in Jerez.”