AUSTIN: Italy’s Enea Bastianini gained his second MotoGP race of the season on the Grand Prix of the Americas on Sunday (Apr 10) and seized management of the world championship.
The 24-year-old handed fellow Ducati rider, and long-time chief, Jack Miller with 5 laps left so as to add the Austin win to his maiden elite class victory on the season-opener in Qatar.
Australian Miller, who had stormed into the lead in the beginning, completed third having additionally being handed by the Suzuki of Alex Rins, the winner in Texas in 2019.
“It’s a fantastic day. Miller had fantastic pace in the first part of the race, then I felt like I had to push, I accelerated like crazy and I won,” stated Bastianini.
“Winning here in America is fantastic. Now we can eat some burgers!”
Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez, bidding for an eighth win in 9 visits to the Texas circuit, completed sixth, having slipped to the again of the sector at lights out on his Honda.
The 29-year-old Spaniard, who missed final weekend’s race in Argentina as a consequence of double imaginative and prescient after a violent high-side crash in Indonesia, had began ninth on the gird, his worst qualifying efficiency ever on the Circuit of the Americas.
However, he stormed again by means of the sector into the highest 10 on the halfway level, even setting a quickest lap.
Fourth on Sunday was Suzuki’s Joan Mir, the 2020 world champion, with Francesco Bagnaia on one other Ducati coming dwelling fifth.
Reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha was seventh behind Marquez with pole-sitter Jorge Martin on a Ducati-Pramac having to accept eighth.
Previous world championship chief Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia was solely eleventh on Sunday.
Bastianini has a five-point lead within the standings over Rins and is 11 in entrance of Espargaro who gained his first MotoGP race in Argentina final week in his two hundredth race.
Mir and Quartararo are fourth and fifth respectively, 15 and 17 factors off the lead after 4 rounds.
“I have mixed feelings,” stated Miller who led for 15 of the 20 laps.
“I had a fantastic race, Enea passed me but I didn’t make any mistakes.”
Rins devoted his second place “to Ukraine, and to all the people who suffer from the war and also from the Covid”.
In the Moto2 race, Italy’s Tony Arbolino claimed a maiden victory by 3.4sec over Ai Ogura.
Britain’s Jake Dixon took third to safe his first ever podium whereas American pole sitter Cameron Beaubier failed to complete.
The fifth spherical of the 2022 world championship is the Portuguese Grand Prix on April 24.
Source : channelnewsasia.com
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