Texas: Eight-time World Champion and Honda rider Marc Marquez won his second race of the 2021 season with his seventh victory at the Grand Prix of the Americas.
Frenchman and Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo came second while Italy's Francesco Bagnaia claimed the third position in the 20-lap MotoGP race on Sunday.
Starting from third on the grid in Texas, Marquez and his Repsol Honda Team RC213V rocketed forward to lead the field out of Turn One. From here, there was no looking back; he set an unmatchable pace over the following 20 laps.
From lap five to lap 15, Marquez never went slower than a 2'04.9 to open up a gap of over four seconds on Fabio Quartararo. There was simply no stopping Marquez on Sunday in Austin as he claimed his seventh win in the circuit.
Marquez's second win of 2021 also brings with it the 450th podium for the Repsol Honda Team since 1995 in the premier class. With 98 podium finishes in the iconic Repsol Honda Team colours, Marquez is the second most successful rider in terms of podium finishes for the team behind Dani Pedrosa with 112 top three finishes.
"The plan was to do exactly what we did today: start well and fight into the first corner, take the first few laps a bit easy and then when the tyres start to drop a little bit - that's when I would start to push. It's exactly what I did and I saw the gap increasing with my lap times in in 2'04 highs, very consistent and comfortable,'' said Marc Marquez after the win.
"In the last few laps I was very tired and it wasn't easy to keep my concentration but Fabio was far behind and my instincts said he would not risk anything as he's fighting for the championship. It's been a hard season to understand everything, I was really looking for this victory because we know we had a good chance here," he added.
