GP of the Americas 2022: Bastianini won to regain the championship lead

Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing) has conquered the GP of the Americas 2022 this Sunday at the Austin Circuit in Texas. Álex Rins (Suzuki) overtook Jack Miller (Ducati) in the penultimate corner for second, despite the Australian having led for most of the race. The other Suzuki of Joan Mir finished in fourth place. 

Eight-time champion Marc Márquez, also shined this Sunday after performing an epic comeback on the day of his reappearance and after missing two rounds for his eye issues. After sinking to the bottom of the grid at the start with problems with his RC213V, he climbed back eighteen places to finish sixth, between Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha). 

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Poleman Jorge Martín, on the other hand, didn’t have the best of days. The Spaniard from Pramac Racing has only been able to claim a disappointing seventh place after running second for a good part of the race. The reason could be an excessive degradation of his tyres. 

Thanks to his second MotoGP victory after QatarThe Beast has taken the leadership of the World Championship back, which he lost last week in Argentina to Aleix Espargaró. The Italian now commands the pilot’s standings with 61 points, five more than Rins and six more than his compatriot from Aprilia, eleventh. 

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Miller overtakes poleman Martín at the start    

Martín lost his first place to Miller at the start of the Americas MotoGP 2022 while Bagnaia kept third place followed by Bastianini and Quartararo, who had robbed fifth from Zarco. A technical problem had Marc falling from ninth to the back of the pack (P24) straight after the lights went out.  

On the first pass of the finish line straight, Miller and Martín engaged in a spectacular duel exchanging positions on several occasions. Bastianini then joined the party to form a leading trio. A few meters back and Bagnaia was losing steam followed by Zarco and Quartararo in fifth. During the first frenzied laps, and realising that this could be their lucky day, both the Suzukis of Rins and Mir devoured El Diablo, to take sixth and seventh place, respectively. 

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But Rins wanted more and soon overtook Bagnaia for fifth. The #42 knew that if he wanted to win, he had to keep going up, and he briefly managed to overtake Zarco, although the Frenchman from Pramac Racing reclaimed his position on the following turn. Little by little and with only 13 laps to go, Miller stretched out the leading trio and opened up a few meters with Martín and Bastianini. 

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Things then remained unchanged at the head. Further behind, however, Rins finally consolidated his fourth place ahead of Zarco. It was not long before Rins had Bastianini on range. He overtook him with 11 laps to go, but on the following straight the Italian was able to use the fabulous speed of his GP21. All the while, Marc was already ninth and chasing Quartararo. Absolute madness! 

With just 10 laps left for the checkered flag, the trio had become a quartet with the addition of Rins. The Catalan continued showing Bastianini what his Suzuki was capable of. Two gladiators in their element. 

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Bastianini deals the final blow

It was then that Bastianini launched his definitive attack for victory. First, he overtook Martin for second place. That fight allowed Miller to open up a small gap at the head of the Americas GP, despite his tyre problems, and with just eight laps to go. 

But the real show was taking place a few meters behind. Marc was already hot on the heels of Quartararo, at just three-tenths of a second behind. The fearless Spaniard had already beat his own lap record. At that point, Marc was already overtaking Yamaha’s French rider, having left Zarco behind. With only five to go, ‘The Beast’ passed Miller, with Rins following behind in no man’s land.

Unexpectedly, Martín fell back to seventh place (tyre issues) with Marc behind him. Immediately, the Italian opened a gap, at which point the #93 gobbled up Martín for sixth. Finally, Bastianini, who had wisely waited for the right time, took his well-deserved victory, regaining championsip lead Rins passed Miller in the penultimate corner to seal his second consecutive podium after Termas. His Suzuki teammate, Mir, finished in fourth place ahead of Bagnaia and a sensational Marc, sixth. 

Images of GP of the Americas 2022: Red Bull Motorsports.

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