2014 Austin MotoGP Results from Circuit of the Americas

2014 Circuit of the Americas Results

Spoiler Alert – 2014 MotoGP results from Circuit of the Americas listed below

Two words, one extremely talented rider – Marc Marquez.

The 21-year-old Spaniard has done nothing but impress so far in 2014 MotoGP. The Repsol Honda rider put in an amazing performance at Losail’s Qatar, taking the win from Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi by a mere 0.259 of a second. And the win arrived six weeks after breaking his right leg in a dirt-track training crash.

And this momentum was carried in Austin’s Circuit of the Americas this weekend. Marquez lead every free practice session, qualified on the pole, and was quickest during the warm-up. When Sunday’s race arrived, the RC213V pilot was the favorite. And he proved why by dominating Austin MotoGP to take his second win for a perfect championship points lead after 2 of 18 rounds.

When the 21-lap race got underway at the 3.426-mile circuit containing 20 corners, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo jumped the start to take the lead. The two-time MotoGP Champion who crashed out of Qatar on the opening lap was followed by Repsol Honda duo of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, Pramac Racing Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team’s Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl, and  Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso.

But Lorenzo had to drive-through the pit ahead of the second lap, giving the lead to Marquez. As for the Americans, Drive M7 Aspar Honda’s Nicky Hayden and NGM Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards began outside of the top 14.

Marquez, who was the only rider on hard Bridgestone tires, immediately opened a 0.8 of a second gap on Pedrosa, showing perfect rhythm and nailing his race line. Behind, Rossi began picking off riders, taking Dovizioso on the second lap for sixth place, Bradl on the third lap, and Crutchlow on the fourth lap – an attack similar to what he did at Qatar.

On the fourth lap, both Bradl and Dovizioso passed Crutchlow, who seemed to struggle with the GP14 that is competing under the Open option. With 17 to go, Crutchlow rode off his line, losing three additional positions.

Up front, Marquez was over a second ahead of Pedrosa with 15 to go. Behind, while battling with Bradl with 12 to go, Rossi appeared to lose front grip on the Bridgestone, and fell back to sixth behind Dovi. On the same lap, GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista crashed out. In the back, Lorenzo was up to 13th, running consistent fast laps.

With 10 to go, Rossi was passed by the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha duo of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith.The next rider to crash was Crutchlow, who lost the front end of his GP14 at turn seven.

Up front, Marquez had nearly a four-second gap on Pedrosa, as Bradl passed Iannone for third. A turn later, Dovi did the same. With five to go, the huge battle was for third between Bradl and Dovi, who swapped the position a few times.

With three to go, Edwards, who is retiring at the end of 2014 MotoGP, rode into the pits with technical issues at his home race. This caused a DNF for the 40-year-old Texan.

Marquez would lead all 21 laps of the race to take the win. He suffered a huge wobble at the final corner, but saved the RC213V to finish 4.124 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. Taking the final podium position was Andrea Dovizioso, who finished 20.976 seconds behind, which shows the strength of the factory Hondas.

Bradl finished fourth, followed by Smith and Pol Espargaro. Rounding out the top 10 were Iannone, Rossi, NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro and Lorenzo. Hayden would finish 11th.

With his win, Marquez now has a perfect 50 points after two of 18 rounds. He leads Pedrosa by 14  points. The series now breaks for a week before heading to Argentina’s Termas de Rio Hondo April 25-27.

Photos by Ara Ashjian

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