AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) -Gresini Racing’s Enea Bastianini claimed his second MotoGP win of the season on the Grand Prix of the Americas on Sunday to transfer high of the championship, whereas the returning Marc Marquez stormed again to finish sixth after dropping to final place.
Bastianini, 24, breezed previous long-time race chief and fellow Ducati rider Jack Miller with 5 laps remaining on the Circuit of the Americas to add victory on the Texas monitor to his maiden triumph on the season-opener in Qatar.
Miller claimed his first podium of the 12 months with a third-place finish after Suzuki rider Alex Rins, who gained in Austin three years in the past, battled by way of to second on the ultimate lap.
“It’s nice to win right here, it is a incredible monitor with nice folks,” Bastianini mentioned after the win, which was additionally the second of his MotoGP profession.
“Miller set a terrific tempo within the first a part of the race, and I used to be simply hanging on. Once I got here below strain from Rins I made a decision to push, which motivated me to discover the additional tempo wanted to take victory. Now it’s time to eat some hamburgers.”
Honda’s six-time MotoGP champion Marquez began in ninth and slipped to the again of the grid after a sluggish begin however the Spaniard staged a shocking comeback to energy his approach into the highest 10.
Marquez, who had beforehand gained seven instances in eight visits to Texas, had missed the final two races after being identified with double imaginative and prescient following a crash in Indonesia in February.
The 29-year-old prevailed within the battle for sixth place with world champion Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha and completed behind Francesco Bagnaia, who might solely handle fifth on his Ducati after ranging from the entrance row.
Rins’ group mate Joan Mir took fourth whereas polesitter Jorge Martin, who led a Ducati quintet in qualifying, misplaced out to Miller at flip one and the 2 traded locations however the Spaniard light later within the race and had to accept eighth.
The MotoGP season resumes with the European leg, beginning on the Algarve Grand Prix in Portugal on April 24.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
