Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team continue their perfect start to the season with a pole position and a sprint race win at the Circuit of The Americas. Francesco Bagnaia crossed the finish line in third place.
Márquez had a good start from pole but was eventually overtaken by his teammate at turn one. He retook the lead during the opening lap and did not look back. Bagnaia had the dream start from row two; after a challenging early part of the encounter, he then showed a similar pace to the frontrunners as he consolidated his third place.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow morning at 10:40 local time (GMT -5) for the warmup session, with the 20-lap race for the Grand Prix of The Americas that will get underway at 14:00.
Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“I was pushing a bit too much during lap one and came very close to a disaster. The track conditions were very different, and I had noticed it immediately on the long right-hander during lap one. The pace was slower compared to Practice, which made the situation more difficult; then I understood how to tackle these conditions and, without taking excessive risks, I pulled a gap and managed the situation. We’ll see about tomorrow, as we have to improve a couple of things: it’s going to be a long race and the warmup will be very useful to understand how to approach it, but I’m happy with today’s sprint race win.”
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“I got a good start and once I saw I was on the inside, I gave it a go and it went well. I’m happy about it, but I still need to work on my performance in the opening laps, because I got a 1.5secs gap from Alex (Márquez) in the early laps and that was too much. I was then able to lap with a similar pace to theirs, but I still need something more at the start in order to have a chance to battle for the win. We’re still working on bridging the gap and we’re making some progress. Tomorrow’s race is going to be a long one and I don’t think we’ll use the soft tyre as it wore out a lot today. We’ll do our best and we’ll try to battle with them.”
