MotoGP 2015, Austin: Marc Marquez romps to third win at Circuit of The Americas in three years

MARC Marquez retained his perfect record at the Circuit of The Americas, taking a dominant victory in the second round of MotoGP.

Will Dale

4 min read

April 13, 2015 - 6:25AM

Marc Marquez

MARC Marquez retained his perfect record at the Circuit of The Americas, taking a dominant victory in the second round of the MotoGP world championship in Austin.

The reigning world championship took his first win of the season by 2.354s, with Andrea Dovizioso holding off Valentino Rossi for the final podium spot.

The 21-year-old Spaniard has now won all three MotoGP races held at the circuit, the victory getting his title challenge back on track after an early mistake at Qatar left him to finish down in fifth place.

Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone rounded out the top five, with Bradley Smith, Cal Crutchlow, the Suzukis of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales, and the Pramac Ducati of Danilo Petrucci rounding out the top 10.

Australian MotoGP rookie Jack Miller scored his first world championship points in 14th.

RESULTS: CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS FROM MOTOGP ROUND 2

“I am very happy with this victory!” Marquez said.

“After yesterday, things looked positive for us, but the only doubt was about the weather. In the end, it turned out stranger than it had seemed.”

Lorenzo and Dovizioso lean on each other on the run to Turn 1.

The race start was delayed by over half an hour after water seeped up through the tarmac, a legacy of the rain that fell overnight and at various times during the race weekend, but there was no question that the race would take place on a dry track under clear skies.

When the lights eventually went out it was Dovizioso that got the holeshot from the middle of the front row, leading pole man Marquez into Turn 1 from Rossi and a fast-starting Smith all the way from 10th on the grid. Lorenzo had been among them on the run to the first corner but had been swamped by the pack and sat in fifth.

Scott Redding’s promising weekend ended after just half a lap, having a low-speed crash at the end of the back straight and taking Pol Espargaro with him. Miller, meanwhile had made yet another electric start to be on the heels of the top 10, before slipping down the field in the early laps.

Up at the front, Dovizioso led a tight lead pack of Marquez, Rossi and Smith, with Lorenzo and Iannone giving chase.

Marquez made the decisive move of the race coming onto the back straight on Lap 4. He slipped past Dovizioso, only for the Italian to make full use of his Ducati’s superior straight-line speed to blast back past the Honda as they sprinted down the chute. Marquez wasn’t done with yet, though, outbraking Dovizioso at the end of the straight to take the lead for good.

“I decided to keep calm in the early laps to try to understand the situation well, and when I started to find a feeling similar to practice, I decided to push the pace a bit,” Marquez explained.

“That was when I was able to open up a gap.”

Marquez’s lead was unassailable.

From there, Marquez gradually crept off into a leading group consisting of just himself. Rossi desparately tried to cling to his tail to prevent him from getting away, but had the matter of Dovizioso’s Ducati to deal with first.

Time and again Rossi would try to get past only for the Desmosedici to sprint away down the following straight. He finally made the move stick for second on Lap 7, firmly closing the door on Dovizioso under brakes at the end of the back straight.

The Italians discussed the move after they pulled up in Parc Ferme, Dovizioso unhappy that Rossi had cut back in on him under hard braking and leaving the Ducati rider no room.

“Dovi said to me that we risked a lot overtaking in Turn 12,” Rossi said.

“From the bike I didn’t feel it and I thought we had some margin. We passed each other very closely, but there was enough space.”

Although Rossi was now in a clear second place, Marquez was already long gone. The red and orange Honda was almost two seconds up the road and in an insurmountable lead.

Honda team cheer as Marquez crosses the line.

But the battle for second was far from done. Rossi began to struggle for grip as his front tyre began to wear, allowing Dovizioso to challenge again as the laps waned.

“After six or seven laps of pushing a lot, I had to ride very smooth,” Rossi explained.

“For some reason our bike destroyed the front tyre. It‘s been like this in 2013 and last year, but this year, fortunately, Bridgestone brought a harder front. That helped me to arrive at the end of the race, but the tyre was still damaged.”

Dovizioso made his move with six laps to go, slipping around the outside of Rossi to take second place during the opening sweepers of the lap. Although Rossi was powerless to challenge further, his first podium finish in Austin allows him to retain his championship points lead.

“I‘m happy about the weekend, because getting onto the podium is a good objective when coming here,” Rossi said. “On paper this track is the worst for our bike.

As in Qatar, Lorenzo was unable to hang onto his teammate but this time managed to hold off Iannone’s charge to again take fourth place. Smith had been among the pair for much of the race, but fell back in the closing stages to take sixth after one of the best rides of his MotoGP career.

Crutchlow took seventh ahead of an impressive run from Espargaro, whose first top 10 finish for Suzuki highlights the closeness of the 2015 season.

Espargaro finished in ninth place, 19 seconds behind race-winner Marquez. 12 months ago, third-placed Dovizioso finished 20 seconds off the Honda’s pace.