AUSTIN: Spanish rookie Marc Marquez out-duelled Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa to win the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas yesterday to become the youngest ever winner in the MotoGP premier class.
The youngster broke Freddie Spencer’s 30-year-old record as the youngest race winner in premier class history which added to the pole position age record he bagged when he took pole position in Texas on Saturday.
The 20-year-old, starting on pole, crossed 1.534 seconds ahead of fading Pedrosa to claim his maiden victory while Spain’s double world champion Jorge Lorenzo, winner of the season opener in Qatar two weeks ago, was a distant third 3.381 back.
Britain’s Cal Crutchlow came home fourth on his non-works Tech3 Yamaha followed by Germany’s Stefan Bradl fifth.
Italian great Valentino Rossi, back on a Yamaha as Lorenzo’s team mate after two years with Ducati, was sixth.
Spain’s Alex Rins won the Grand Prix of the Americas Moto3 race, starting from pole position and leading home an all-Spanish podium on KTM bikes.
Maverick Vinales was second and Luis Salom third in a five-lap finishing sprint that followed a red flag stoppage brought about by Dutch rider Jasper Iwema’s serious crash. The furious finish saw Rins and Salom trade the lead, Rins going ahead for good at the penultimate turn. The same trio occupied the podium at the season-opening race earlier this month in Qatar, where Salom won ahead of Vinales and Rins. AGENCIES
