The Aprilia rider, champion with three different brands in MotoGP, came back to win ahead of Pedro Acosta
MADRID, 14 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish driver Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) won this Sunday the Grand Prix of the Americas, the third round of the World Championship, with a great comeback after being relegated in the first corner, ahead of the also Spanish Pedro Acosta (Gas Gas).
Viñales had taken pole and won the sprint on Saturday, but this Sunday he dealt an even bigger blow, after finding himself ninth after the traffic in turn one. The one from Figueres was coming back, also taking advantage of the beautiful fight that there was throughout the race, until he took victory.
The Catalan, who had not won since 2021 in Qatar, became the first rider in the MotoGP era to win with three different brands in the premier class. On the other hand, until Viñales arrived sweeping everything, the first positions danced for many laps, with misfortune for Marc Márquez who crashed.
The man from Cervera lost control of his motorcycle at turn 11, just when he had taken control of the race midway through the Grand Prix. Without a doubt, the former Repsol Honda rider remembered old times on the Texan circuit, now with a Ducati that seems to be getting closer and closer to winning again. Without Márquez, his brother Álex also fell, although far from the upper area, on Sunday he pointed out Acosta.
The ‘rookie’ had made the best start, but Jorge Martín (Ducati) did not take long to appear, after a touch with Márquez that could have ended both of their races. The World Championship leader took the lead and seemed to put in a good cushion with that battle between Acosta, Márquez, Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), but the Asutin route did not allow even a mistake.
From behind, Viñales’ comeback was already a reality, taking advantage of the overtaking of those four drivers and, then, Martín lost his cushion of more than a second, Márquez went to the ground and the Madrid native began to suffer with the tires. The Ducati rider, after crashing in Q2, had to adjust, and was overtaken by Bastianini, third.
In the fight for the race, Viñales had no rival with Acosta, despite the fact that the Murcian made history by being the youngest rider to achieve two consecutive podiums in MotoGP. A race to make it clear that the World Championship is going to be long and that Ducati, with Martín giving up the lead in the general classification and the current champion Francesco Bagnaia fifth in Austin, no longer has the exclusive control of victories.