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Bagnaia claims challenging MotoGP Americas GP as Marquez crashes from the lead

Francesco Bagnaia took full advantage of his factory Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez crashing out of the lead to take an emotional victory in a chaotic Americas GP.

Bagnaia made no mistake after inheriting the lead from Marquez, who had won every sprint and grand prix of the season up until today.

The error was enough for Marc Marquez to lose the lead of the world championship to his brother Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), who moved ahead by one point after claiming another solid second place.

The run-up to the race was as chaotic as any seen in recent years. It had been raining, and tyre choice was a hot topic of debate. As the warm-up lap approached, only three riders has risked fitting slick tyres: Brad Binder (KTM), Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM).

Then pole man Marc Marquez set the cat amongst the pigeons by sprinting back towards the pits at the last possible minute before the warm-up lap would have been flagged away. Having decided the track was dry enough after all, his plan was to grab his ‘dry’ second bike from the garage. Many of the top riders, including Alex Marquez and Bagnaia, immediately copied him.

Chaos then ensued, with Maverick Viñales seen trying to wheel his Tech3 KTM through the gap in the pitwall and back onto the grid, where the three slick-shod riders and a few others besides were still waiting in their original positions. It was at this point that race control threw the red flag.

The events of Argentina 2018 immediately sprang to mind, and many would have assumed that those who had caused the situation would have been penalised or made to start from the pits. This was not the case at Austin in 2025, however, and all riders were allowed to take their original spots for the new start.

This caused understandable fury in some quarters, but race organisers were in fact proceeding in accordance with new rules drawn up following last year’s rain-affected Japanese GP. Thus the riders lined up as before, this time with everyone on slicks. 

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Marc Marquez made a better start than in the Saturday sprint, got into the lead unopposed and set about dominating the race in familiar fashion. Bagnaia initially slotted into fourth behind Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, but quickly dispensed with the VR46 Ducati.

While Marc Marquez stretched his lead to 1.4s by lap 4, Bagnaia needed until then to get past Alex. Marc responded to Bagnaia’s presence in second place immediately by setting fastest lap on lap 5, and appeared to have broken his team-mate’s challenge with a lead of over two seconds by lap nine.

Then Marc shocked the world by losing control of his Ducati at Turn 4. He got going again, but he was out of the points with a damaged bike, and was was eventually forced to retire.

That left Bagnaia to streak to a comfortable victory, as Alex failed to offer any serious challenge.

Di Giannantonio claimed the final podium spot after a steady and lonely ride. He finished ahead of his team-mate Franco Morbidelli, who crossed the line in front of of Pramac Yamaha rider Jack Miller and factory Aprilia man Marco Bezzecchi.

In a race of high attrition, Tech3 KTM rider Enea Bastianini took seventh, slow-starting factory Honda man Luca Marini recovered to eighth and Ogura took ninth. Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top 10 after failing to replicate his Saturday sprint form. 

MotoGP Americas GP - Race results

   
1
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5
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 63 Ducati 19

39'00.191

  161.1   25
2 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 19

+2.089

39'02.280

2.089 160.9   20
3 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 19

+3.594

39'03.785

1.505 160.8   16
4 Italy F. Morbidelli Team VR46 21 Ducati 19

+10.732

39'10.923

7.138 160.4   13
5 Australia J. Miller Pramac Racing 43 Yamaha 19

+11.857

39'12.048

1.125 160.3   11
6 Italy M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team 72 Aprilia 19

+12.238

39'12.429

0.381 160.2   10
7 Italy E. Bastianini Tech 3 23 KTM 19

+12.815

39'13.006

0.577 160.2   9
8 Italy L. Marini Honda HRC 10 Honda 19

+15.646

39'15.837

2.831 160.0   8
9 Japan A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team 79 Aprilia 19

+16.344

39'16.535

0.698 160.0   7
10 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 19

+18.255

39'18.446

1.911 159.8   6
11 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 19

+24.256

39'24.447

6.001 159.4   5
12 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 19

+27.938

39'28.129

3.682 159.2   4
13 Spain A. Fernandez Pramac Racing 7 Yamaha 19

+35.740

39'35.931

7.802 158.7   3
14 Spain M. Viñales Tech 3 12 KTM 19

+42.724

39'42.915

6.984 158.2   2
15 Italy L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team 32 Aprilia 19

+46.397

39'46.588

3.673 158.0   1
16 Thailand S. Chantra Team LCR 35 Honda 19

+1'03.601

40'03.792

17.204 156.8    
17 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 17

+2 Laps

40'01.901

2 Laps 140.4    
dnf Spain F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing 54 Ducati 16

+3 Laps

33'00.344

1 Lap 160.3 Accident  
dnf South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 12

+7 Laps

24'46.239

4 Laps 160.2 Retirement  
dnf Spain M. Marquez Ducati Team 93 Ducati 12

+7 Laps

25'24.728

38.489 156.1 Retirement  
dnf Spain J. Mir Honda HRC 36 Honda 11

+8 Laps

23'38.877

1 Lap 153.8 Retirement  
dnf Spain P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 37 KTM 10

+9 Laps

21'12.056

1 Lap 156.0 Retirement  
In this article
Richard Asher
MotoGP
Marc Marquez
Francesco Bagnaia
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