This time Maverick Vinales really wrote history. After two hits in the Sprints, the Aprilia rider hit the big target on Sunday in Austin and became in effect the first in the MotoGP era to win with three different brands (the first two were Suzuki and Yamaha), as well as to forcefully relaunch his candidacy for the title.
A truly masterful performance for the Spaniard, at the end of a race that already seemed compromised at the first corner: after a not too brilliant start, he was taken wide by a slight contact with Pecco Bagnaia and even found himself in 11th position.
Vinales, however, did not lose heart, also thanks to the choice of the medium tire on the rear, unlike most of the riders ahead of him who were on the soft, and slowly began to climb back up the slope. It didn't take him too many laps to get back into the lead and once he caught up with the Ducati peloton and Pedro Acosta's GasGas Tech3 it was clear that he had more than everyone else today too.
The decisive overtaking came on the 13th lap, when he slipped inside the Moto2 world champion at turn 11. At that point he gave it a push, setting the fastest lap of the race and then managed it brilliantly until the flag. checkered, regaining a victory in the long race, the tenth of his career, which he had missed since the 2021 Qatar GP.
However, Acosta's performance was also worth mentioning, as in the third race of his career in the premier class he had the satisfaction of leading for the first time (the youngest to do so in the last 33 years), battling on equal terms with pieces from 90 like Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin. The eight-time world champion himself ended his race in the gravel in an attempt to keep the “Mazzaron shark” behind him, losing after about half the race a good chance to take home his eighth success in Texas when he exaggerated the broke away at turn 11 while in the lead.
Acosta's second place finish improves Portimao's third and brings him just one step away from first victory. Among other things, he once again made a huge difference compared to the other KTMs, because Brad Binder finished ninth, over 13 seconds further back, and Jack Miller even sank to 13th.
The losers of the Texan trip are inevitably those of Ducati, who saw themselves beaten by two brands, probably paying for the choice of the soft tire on the rear, unlike the two that preceded them with the medium. Leading the Red contingent was Enea Bastianini, who with a lap and a half to go found the right gap to overtake a Martin who seemed to be in difficulty at the end.
An important overtaking for the Rimini driver, who finds his second consecutive podium after the one in Portimao, but above all he closes the standings against “Martinator”, bringing the gap to 21 points. Among other things, it is the first time this season that the Prima Pramac Racing native from Madrid has failed to get on the podium. And now he will also have to watch his back from an attacking Vinales at -24 and from Acosta at -26.
The person who saw his delay grow further was Pecco Bagnaia who had a disappointing weekend in Austin. Even the long race didn't go much better than the Sprint, even if in the early stages the reigning world champion seemed to have his say in the fight for victory. In the long run, however, he lagged behind and in the end he finished fifth alone, slipping to -30.
On the other hand, Fabio Di Giannantonio put in a good performance as he took a good sixth place on his Ducati GP23 of the Pertamina Enduro VR46, ahead of Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia, never at the height of Vinales on this track, and its sister bike. by Marco Bezzecchi.
Yet another black day for the Japanese brands, with Fabio Quartararo finishing 12th with his Yamaha, while his teammate Alex Rins was unable to make the most of even a super start that had taken him to seventh position, because when he crashed he was dropped to 16th place. Only one Honda saw the finish line and it was that of Luca Marini, who saw his first point of the season taken away at the end by Alex Marquez, who finished ahead of him despite having restarted after a crash. Finally, Franco Morbidelli was out, crashing after 8 laps.
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