Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1416659
I know that maybe it is the last circuit with good conditions to win at, but my intention was to be strong, not like here, but strong in the last three races and try to be consistent and then let's see." Marquez led home Quartararo, who had a relatively lonely race in second as he tried in vain to keep the eight-time World Champion in his sight. It wasn't, however, a bad day at the office for the Frenchman, who beat a late charging Bagnaia for the first time in two races and extended his lead in the championship to 52 points, meaning he only must finish ahead of Bagnaia at the next round at Misano on October 24 to be crowned France's first premier class World Champion. "I think that we managed to do a really great job," Quartararo said. "This morning I tried the soft rear, and honestly that was not really a race option for us all weekend, but I felt good. The first 12 laps of the race were the toughest, when I tried to make a gap between me and Jorge. And we did it. This is the best second place that I've ever gotten in my life. It's even better than a victory, to be honest, because I'm getting closer to my dream. It was so emotional be- cause there are only three races left, and I have an over 50-point advantage." Pole sitter Bagnaia suffered the effects of a bad start that left him down in fifth behind Marquez, Quartararo, Pramac Ducati's Jorge Martin and Suzuki Ecstar's Alex Rins. He would drop behind Ducati teammate Jack Miller as VOLUME 58 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 5, 2021 P59 CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS RESURFACE In light of the negative comments re- garding the track surface at the Circuit of the Americas, MotoGP riders are pushing for the venue to be resurfaced before next year's event, which is scheduled to take place next April. This was a hot discussion point in Friday evening's Safety Commission meet- ing, on which Takaaki Nakagami said, "someone said that it's impossible to make the race, someone said, too dan- gerous, this is the worst track on the calendar. But Dorna said that they will request and try to push to resurface, not all the circuit, but I think from turn two to turn 10. If the circuit say they don't want to resurface, I don't think we will come back." ESTEBAN GARCIA BACK WITH KTM KTM has confirmed the acquisition of Esteban Garcia to its technical team for the 2022 season. Garcia was work- ing as Maverick Vinales' crew chief at the start of this year, only to leave at his own accord ahead of the Catalan Grand Prix with his rider enduring a poor spell of form. From next year he will work between both the KTM fac- tory and the Tech 3 Satellite team. As Tech 3 Team Boss Herve Poncharal explained, "KTM is a company that is so involved in racing. When Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez decided to move up to the MotoGP class, they wanted to be sure they got the right support. KTM wanted to put the two teams on the same level and liaise between them. Esteban will liaise be- tween the two teams to take pressure off the crew chiefs. He will have a key role next year." Briefly... (Above) Once Marquez (93) hit the front he was never headed, although Fabio Quartararo (20) kept him honest for the first few laps. (Left) Jack Miller (43) and Joan Mir (36) reignited their rivalry from Qatar when Mir bashed into the Aussie on the last lap.