Marc Marquez scored his fourth successive win from pole at Circuit of the Americas, making it his 10th victory in a row on American soil and extending his lead in the Championship standings by 21 points over Jorge Lorenzo. Marc Marquez led from the beginning of the Texas weekend, finishing first in every practice, earning pole position and finally leading the race from the start to the chequered flag, setting the fastest lap of the race at 2’04.682 on lap 11. With this success, Marquez overtakes Kevin Schwantz in number of victories in the premier class, with 26, while Honda now leads both the Constructor and Team standings.
It was a masterful victory, the result of his particularly good feeling with the track and the good teamwork performed in the garage. After today’s warm-up in fact, the Spaniard, together with his team and Michelin technician, chose to race with a medium rear/soft front tyre combination that proved to be successful.
Dani Pedrosa got a good start from the third row to slot into fifth place by the end of the first lap. He moved past Rossi on lap two before the Italian crashed out of the race, and passed Aleix Espargaro on the third lap. Dani Pedrosa was able to keep a very competitive pace and set the third fastest lap of the race at 2’04.950, and was closely chasing Dovizioso and Lorenzo, preparing to battle for second position, when he lost the front while braking into turn one on lap seven. He crashed, and in doing so, he unfortunately took out a blameless Andrea Dovizioso. After rushing to check that the Italian was unhurt, Dani remounted his bike and re-joined the race but was forced to retire on lap 11 due to damage to his bike.
With two demanding back-to-back flyaway races behind them, the MotoGP field will be back in action in less than two weeks’ time at the Jerez GP, the first race of 2016 on European soil.
Marc Marquez
“I’m very happy with how the whole weekend has gone. This is a circuit that I like, one of my favourite, but there were some unknowns here because just before the race we decided to run the soft front tyre. In the end the team advised me very well, because the change gave me the good feeling with the bike that I had partly lost in the warm-up. I have to thank them all, as well as the Michelin technician. When I asked, they told me that I would be okay for the first 12-15 laps, and then after that I would have to manage the situation more, which is exactly what happened. We’ve taken another victory here in Austin and are now on a run of four in a row, which is great. In addition, the joy of the team after we won illustrates everything we’re working on. In these first three races of the year, we’ve made good use of the situations that we’ve encountered.”
Dani Pedrosa
“It was a rather difficult weekend overall. The practice sessions didn’t go entirely well, but I approached the race with hope and I think we started quite well. I gained positions and was in a very good group, and I think we could have fought with Lorenzo for second place; the pace we had was much better than in practice. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake, losing the front end under braking when I was still turning into the corner. I lost control and tried to save the crash, but I ended up going down and taking Dovizioso with me. It’s a shame to have finished the race in that way, and I feel especially bad for Andrea and want to apologise to him. I’m glad he’s fine. The good news is that we took a big step forward from practice to the race. Now we must carefully look into the data we collected during the race and try to build on it for the Jerez GP in two weeks’ time.”
Race Results
Pos. Rider
Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 MARQUEZ
Marc 93 SPA 25 Repsol Honda Team 43’57.945
2 LORENZO
Jorge 99 SPA 20 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 6.107
3 IANNONE
Andrea 29 ITA 16 Ducati Team 10.947
4 VINALES
Maverick 25 SPA 13 Team Suzuki Ecstar 18.422
5 ESPARGARO
Aleix 41 SPA 11 Team Suzuki Ecstar 20.711
6 REDDING
Scott 45 GBR 10 Octo Pramac Racing 28.961
7 ESPARGARO
Pol 44 SPA 9 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 32.112
8 PIRRO
Michele 51 ITA 8 Ducati Team 32.757
9 BARBERA
Hector 8 SPA 7 Avintia Racing 34.592
10 BRADL
Stefan 6 GER 6 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 40.211
11 BAUTISTA
Alvaro 19 SPA 5 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 45.423
12 LAVERTY
Eugene 50 IRE 4 Aspar MotoGP Team 47.127
13 RABAT
Tito 53 SPA 3 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 47.426
14 HERNANDEZ
Yonny 68 COL 2 Aspar MotoGP Team 51.190
15 BAZ
Loris 76 FRA 1 Avintia Racing 1’12.929
16 CRUTCHLOW
Cal 35 GBR 0 LCR Honda 1’19.252
17 SMITH
Bradley 38 GBR 0 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’28.036
18 PEDROSA
Dani 26 SPA 0 Repsol Honda Team 10 laps
19 DOVIZIOSO
Andrea 4 ITA 0 Ducati Team 15 laps
20 ROSSI
Valentino 46 ITA 0 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 19 laps
Rider Standings
Pos. Rider
Num Nation Points Team
1 MARQUEZ
Marc 93 SPA 66 Repsol Honda Team
2 LORENZO
Jorge 99 SPA 45 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
3 ROSSI
Valentino 46 ITA 33 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
4 ESPARGARO
Pol 44 SPA 28 Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 PEDROSA
Dani 26 SPA 27 Repsol Honda Team
6 BARBERA
Hector 8 SPA 25 Avintia Racing
7 DOVIZIOSO
Andrea 4 ITA 23 Ducati Team
8 VINALES
Maverick 25 SPA 23 Team Suzuki Ecstar
9 LAVERTY
Eugene 50 IRE 21 Aspar MotoGP Team
10 ESPARGARO
Aleix 41 SPA 21 Team Suzuki Ecstar
11 IANNONE
Andrea 29 ITA 16 Ducati Team
12 REDDING
Scott 45 GBR 16 Octo Pramac Racing
13 SMITH
Bradley 38 GBR 16 Monster Yamaha Tech 3
14 BRADL
Stefan 6 GER 15 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
15 BAUTISTA
Alvaro 19 SPA 14 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
16 PIRRO
Michele 51 ITA 12 Ducati Team
17 RABAT
Tito 53 SPA 11 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
18 HERNANDEZ
Yonny 68 COL 2 Aspar MotoGP Team
19 MILLER
Jack 43 AUS 2 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
20 BAZ
Loris 76 FRA 1 Avintia Racing
Team Standings
Pos. Team Points
1 Repsol Honda Team 93
2 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 78
3 Team Suzuki Ecstar 44
4 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 44
5 Ducati Team 39
6 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 29
7 Avintia Racing 26
8 Aspar MotoGP Team 23
9 Octo Pramac Racing 16
10 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 13
Pos. Team Points
1 Honda 66
2 Yamaha 65
3 Ducati 49
4 Suzuki 28
5 Aprilia 18
HONDA RACING CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE
