Bagnaia's mistake ensured
a second win in four races
for Rins and on two different
makes of bike, with Luca Marini
(Mooney VR46 Ducati) scoring
his first full-length MotoGP po
-
dium in second after disposing
of Fabio Quartararo (Monster
Energy Yamaha) in third.
Bagnaia had earlier set the
stage with a dominant win in the
Saturday Sprint Race, leading
from almost start-to-finish as he
headed home Rins and Jorge
Martin (Alma Pramac Ducati).
Sprint Race
Bagnaia had qualified on pole
and rocketed into P1 after fend-
ing off a dive-bomb attempt
from Rins at turn one.
Bagnaia was soon estab
-
lished in the lead and held a
steady gap over the chasing
pack as Rins, Aleix Espargaro
(Aprilia Racing), Quartararo,
Jorge Martin (Alma Pramac
Ducati) and Brad Binder (Red
Bull KTM) gave chase.
Rins tried in vain to close
down the gap to the number
one Ducati, but Bagnaia had him
covered and took what looked
on the outside to be an easy win
with Rins scoring his first Honda
MotoGP podium and Martin get
-
ting the better of Espargaro af-
ter the latter gave a spirited fight
on the last lap, divebombing up
the inside of the penultimate
corner but ultimately running
wide and letting his compatriot
through.
Binder was fifth ahead of
championship leader Marco
Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46
Ducati), teammate Marini, a
VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P75
YAMAHA "YEARS
BEHIND" RIVALS
After crashing out of the fight
for second, Fabio Quartararo
was left to bemoan his Yamaha
M1's lack of competitiveness in a
group fight. In Saturday's Sprint,
the Frenchman was outgunned
when in a battle with a Honda,
Aprilia and Ducati. Yet, after
crashing out at turn one, he
rejoined and was posting a faster
pace than Pecco Bagnaia in the
closing laps when alone. "I could
not even try to fight with them,"
Quartararo lamented. "Alone, we
can be fast, but with the others
we are struggling so much."
TRACK CONDITION
STILL IN QUESTION
As is now the tradition, the state
of the Circuit of the Americas
was the focus of the conversa-
tion on Friday. Despite some
work at turn 10 to smooth out
the surface, conducted last year,
the track's bumps were still
problematic for the majority of
the MotoGP field. Brad Binder
said, "I find turn nine and 10 is
extremely sketchy. It looks like a
little jump on the curb. It's got a
little take off there and the land-
ing is downhill."
HONDA BETTER?
He may not approve entirely of
Honda's working methods. But
Alex Rins made the most of the
Japanese factory's hardware in
Austin after finishing runner-up
to Pecco Bagnaia in the Sprint.
Rins expressed his disappoint-
ment that there was no direct
contact with factory engineers
during a race weekend. Also,
Briefly...
(Above) Pecco
Bagnaia made it
look easy in the
Sprint, running
away to a two-
second win. (Left)
Bagnaia was on
for it in the Sunday
Grand Prix until
losing the front
early in turn two
and crashing out.
