Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) made history in today’s Grand Prix of the Americas outside Austin, Texas, by becoming the youngest-ever winner of a premier-class Grand Prix. The 20-year-old rode a magnificent race to beat team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) by less than two seconds.

The Repsol Honda pair have dominated proceedings since the MotoGP circus arrived at the superb new Circuit of the Americas venue, doing a one-two in practice and qualifying, when Marquez became the youngest rider to score a premier-class pole position.

Marquez has taken both records from another sublimely talented Honda rider, American Freddie Spencer, who achieved his first pole at Jarama, Spain, in May 1982 and his first win at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, in July the same year. On that day Spencer was 20 years and 196 days old. Today Marquez – who achieves such dizzying angles of lean that he scrapes his elbows on the tarmac as a matter of course – is 20 years and 64 days old.

The duo played a tense game of cat and mouse on their RC213Vs throughout the 21 laps, Pedrosa grabbing the lead after Marquez ran wide at the first corner. The positions stayed that way for the first 12 laps, Marquez happy to wait behind his more experienced team-mate. Finally, on lap 13 he dived ahead at Turn Seven. Pedrosa did not give up and was on the new leader’s rear wheel for the next few laps, until he made a mistake on lap 19. That lost him a second, putting him 1.6 seconds down, but still he did not give up, closing the gap to 1.2 seconds as they began the final lap. That was too much of a disadvantage, however, and Pedrosa realised he had to be content with second today. The pair crossed the line 1.534 seconds apart.

Marquez’s historic victory didn’t just rewrite the record books, it also moved the former 125 World Champion and reigning Moto2 World Champion into the joint lead of the 2013 MotoGP World Championship, with reigning champ Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). Spencer still holds the record for being the youngest premier-class World Champion, but for how much longer?

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) had a strong ride to fifth on his RCV, making amends for his tumble in the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix. The German had a busy first few laps, running second for the first few corners, then battling back and forth with Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) who finished behind final podium finisher Lorenzo. Eventually Bradl settled into a lonely fifth position, setting a good pace aboard his RC213V.

Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) had to fight hard for his eighth-place result, first with Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and then with another factory rider, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati). He might have beaten the Italian but for an error at the final corner.

Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda) came home 20th aboard his CBR1000RR-powered CRT bike, happy to have scored his first MotoGP finish after sliding off in Qatar. During the race he was able to learn plenty from other more experienced riders that will help him improve in the future.




Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: race winner

“After taking my first podium in Qatar I was very happy, but I am even more so today after my first win! It went better than I expected and I am very grateful to the team for their efforts over the preseason. We have worked very hard and, without this, the victory would not have been possible. The race was very intense and physical, as I followed Dani for many laps and then decided to launch an attack and try to open a gap with ten laps to go. I could not pull the gap I wanted as some problems with the front emerged that we’d experienced throughout the weekend. Despite all this, we were able to take the victory. The 25 points are important, but what is more important is to have achieved a win in my second race in MotoGP. We realise that more difficult circuits lie ahead for us, but we will try to give 100% at all of them. Our battle is not the one for the championship, but rather taking it race-by-race and enjoying every moment.”


Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd

“Today's race was good and I'm happy with this second place. We had great pace, even though we knew that Marc was very strong. I tried to ride my own race and in the end I was losing a lot of time in the chicanes. I was tiring physically and I could not handle the bike well – especially in the first part of the circuit. In the second section of the track I was recovering quite a lot of time, but it was not enough. Furthermore, in one of the three laps before the end I made a mistake, lost around 1.5 seconds and Marc was able to get away. That was the point at which the race was lost for me. Still, I'm happy, my riding was pretty good today and I have improved compared with Qatar. I have to congratulate Marc as well, because he did a great job! Now we need to focus on Jerez – a circuit I like a lot.”


Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 5th

“We can be happy today because we have done a good job. I took a very good start but I was not so aggressive as some other riders at the beginning because, on full fuel, I could feel some sliding in the front so I decided to remain calm and focused. With 13 laps to go Crutchlow passed me as he was quite fast in the middle of the race, especially in corner entry. We could not match his performance in the entry of the curves but we had a good speed in the exit. I think we have done our best and fifth place is the result we were expecting here at COTA.”


Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 8th

“I was expecting a better race after the feeling I had with the bike yesterday in qualifying and honestly thought I could even improve my pace today but the bike was moving around and I didn't have the same confidence. I tried to stay with the group but couldn't manage it. In the end after pulling back two seconds on Dovizioso I got into a nice battle with him but in the last corner I made a mistake and he passed me. It's a shame but we have chance to make up for it in a couple of weeks in my home Grand Prix at Jerez, a place and circuit that I really like.”


Bryan Staring, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 20th

“I am really happy to have finished the race here, which was important for me in terms of learning the lines from the other more experienced riders and the fact that we managed to improve on our best lap from practice. Overall I think this proves that we need more time on the bike to adapt and to become more competitive in this class.”

Event results - Round 2 - Race 1

1 Marc Marquez 43m42.123s ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 1.534 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 3.381 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Cal Crutchlow 6.616 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Stefan Bradl 12.674 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
6 Valentino Rossi 16.615 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
7 Andrea Dovizioso 22.374 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Alvaro Bautista 22.854 SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
9 Nicky Hayden 33.773 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Andrea Iannone 42.112 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
11 Aleix Espargaro 48.837 ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
12 Bradley Smith 50.705 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
13 Ben Spies 1'14.132 USA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
14 Randy De Puniet 1'15.651 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
15 Yonny Hernandez 1'19.591 COL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
16 Michael Laverty 1'34.391 WAL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
17 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'39.823 JPN FTR Avintia Blusens
18 Hector Barbera 1'39.952 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
19 Claudio Corti 1'46.773 ITA FTR NGM Forward Racing
20 Bryan Staring 1'48.084 AUS HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
21 Blake Young 1 lap USA APRILIA Attack Performance
22 Danilo Petrucci DNF ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
23 Lukas Pesek DNF CZE IODA Came IodaRacing Project
24 Colin Edwards DNF USA FTR NGM Forward Racing


Championship standings

1 Marc Marquez 41 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo 41 pts SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Dani Pedrosa 33 pts SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Valentino Rossi 30 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Cal Crutchlow 24 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
6 Andrea Dovizioso 18 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Alvaro Bautista 18 pts SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
8 Nicky Hayden 15 pts USA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Andrea Iannone 13 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
10 Stefan Bradl 11 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
11 Aleix Espargaro 10 pts ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
12 Ben Spies 9 pts USA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
13 Randy De Puniet 6 pts FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
14 Bradley Smith 4 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
15 Yonny Hernandez 3 pts COL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
16 Hector Barbera 3 pts SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
17 Hiroshi Aoyama 1 pts JPN FTR Avintia Blusens
18 Michael Laverty 0 pts WAL ART Paul Bird Motorsport
19 Lukas Pesek 0 pts CZE IODA Came IodaRacing Project
20 Karel Abraham 0 pts CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
21 Danilo Petrucci 0 pts ITA IODA Came IodaRacing Project
22 Colin Edwards 0 pts USA FTR NGM Forward Racing
23 Claudio Corti 0 pts ITA FTR NGM Forward Racing
24 Bryan Staring 0 pts AUS HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
25 Blake Young 0 pts USA APRILIA Attack Performance

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