Marc Marquez wins in United States to become youngest ever victor in the premier class. Dani Pedrosa places second.
At the age of just 20 years and 63 days Marc Marquez put his name into the history books once again today. With a win at the Grand Prix of The Americas, he became the youngest ever premier class racewinner in Grand Prix history. He had started from pole and was engaged in a fight almost right to the end with teammate Dani Pedrosa, but it was Marquez who headed the Repsol Honda one-two.
When the red lights went out, Marquez took the holeshot but ran wide. Pedrosa and Stefan Bradl overtook him, but before the end of the opening lap he had got past the German and was on the tail of Pedrosa. The two Repsol Honda riders broke free at the head of the field and, nine laps from the finish, Marquez overtook his teammate to take the lead. Pedrosa was able to stick with his colleague, but a mistake three laps from the end eventually ruled him out of a chance of victory. That honour went to Marquez, who opened his MotoGP account.
The win also puts Marquez at the head of the overall standings, level on points with Jorge Lorenzo on 41. Pedrosa is third, with 33. In a fortnight’s time, the series returns to Europe with the Spanish GP at Jerez.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
2nd at 1.534 sec
“Today’s race was good and I’m happy with this second place. We had great pace, even though we knew that Marc was very strong. I tried to ride my own race and in the end I was losing a lot of time on the chicanes. I was tiring physically and I could not handle the bike well ─especially in the first part of the circuit. In the second section of the track I was recovering quite a lot of time, but it was not enough. Furthermore, in one of the three laps before the end I made a mistake, lost around 1.5 seconds and Marc was able to get away. That was the point at which the race was lost for me. Still, I’m happy, my riding was pretty good today and I have improved compared with Qatar. I have to congratulate Marc as well, because he did a great job! Now we need to focus on Jerez ─a circuit I like a lot.”
Marc Márquez >> Audio
1st – 43:42.123
“After taking my first podium in Qatar I was very happy, but I am even more so today after my first win! It went better than I expected and I am very grateful to the team for their efforts over the preseason; we have worked very hard and, without this, the victory would not have been possible. The race was very intense and physical, as I followed Dani for many laps and then decided to launch an attack and try to open a gap with ten laps to go. I could not pull the gap I wanted as some problems with the front emerged that we’d experienced throughout the weekend. Despite all this, we were able to take the victory. The 25 points are important, but what is more important is to have achieved a win in my second race in MotoGP. We realise that more difficult circuits lie ahead for us, but we will try to give 100% at all of them. Our battle is not the one for the Championship, but rather taking it race-by-race and enjoying every moment.”
