Stateside Tissot Sprint glory went the way of Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) – but not without a decent slice of drama and fireworks thrown in along the way. The #93 eventually beat Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) by less than a second in Austin to keep up his 100% victory record in 2025, as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – after leading on the first lap – brought home a bronze medal to set us up beautifully for Sunday.
AN OPENING LAP SHOWDOWN: Marquez vs Bagnaia vs Marquez
Without any shadow of a doubt, the opening lap of the Sprint was the best lap of the season – and it’ll take some beating too. Bagnaia, from P6, launched away superbly to grab the holeshot up the hill into Turn 1. Marc Marquez bit straight back at Turn 2 to retake the lead from his teammate, but at Turn 3, it was Pecco doing the overtaking again. It didn’t take long before Marquez decided to pounce back though, Turn 7 his chosen spot.
So it was Marc Marquez leading Bagnaia and Alex Marquez. But at Turn 17, the #93’s Sprint very nearly came to a premature end. An almighty rear-end slide led to the six-time MotoGP Champion getting thrown out of the saddle, which cost the Championship leader P1 and P2. Thought we were done? Nope. Bagnaia and the Marquez brothers were locked together on the exit of Turn 19 and into Turn 20, the final corner, Marc Marquez passed both to retake the lead, with Alex Marquez slotting into P2. That's worth several rewatches.
HOW THE SPRINT WAS WON
That was some opening lap. But after hitting the front again and getting into a rhythm, Marc Marquez started to build a gap to Alex Marquez. It was 0.6s on Lap 3, as Bagnaia lost touch with the top two. The Italian had Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) swarming all over his rear tyre before the Frenchman had a huge moment on entry to Turn 15, which allowed Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) to slide through. Now, Quartararo was in a VR46 sandwich, with Fabio Di Giannantonio sitting in P6.
On Lap 5 of 10, Marc Marquez’s advantage had shrunk from just under a second to 0.4s. That did rise back up to 0.6s on the next lap though, as Pecco found pace. But was it too late to lock onto the rear end of Alex Marquez?
Meanwhile, a ferocious battle was unfolding between the two VR46 Ducatis and Quartararo. The trio exchanged fourth with four laps to go as the Yamaha star dug deep to try and cling onto a chance of finishing P4 – and what a job he was doing.
With two laps to go, Marc Marquez’s lead was up to 1.4s, while Alex Marquez was still holding Bagnaia at bay by just over a second. However, heading onto the last lap, Alex had reeled in Marc. It was 0.7s over the line, so could anything be done by the younger Marquez to end his brother’s early season momentum?
The answer was no. Marc Marquez held firm to pick up his third Tissot Sprint win on the bounce, with Alex Marquez continuing his P2 streak. Bagnaia claimed an important P3, just under two seconds away from his teammate, but the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP World Champion will be wanting more in Sunday’s Grand Prix despite being pleased with the result.
SATURDAY POINTS SCORERS IN AUSTIN
After a phenomenal mid-race scrap, Di Giannantonio won the fight for fourth, with Morbidelli keeping Quartararo behind him as the former teammates clinch P5 and P6 respectively – a top effort from the Yamaha star. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) collected seventh and acted as the lead KTM on Saturday, as Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) earned two Sprint points with a hard-earned P8. That was a great ride from the Italian who flew the HRC flag in the points after teammate Joan Mir crashed out from the top nine early doors, with Honda again showing progress - and that was Marini's first Sprint points with Honda too.
Meanwhile, the final Sprint point went the way of rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) after a great late battle with Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).
If that first lap and subsequent battles didn’t get the juices flowing for Sunday in Austin, then we’re not sure what will. Tune into the MotoGP Americas Grand Prix at 14:00 local time (UTC -5) to see who will collect COTA’s 2025 crown!
Dixon pips Gonzalez in last dash pole shootout in Texas
It’s one win apiece in Moto2 this season for Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Intact GP) and key rival Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), but the former had made a clean sweep of qualifying so far. Dixon turned the tables in Texas to take his first pole of the year though and it’s Gonzalez he denied to set up another showdown – the #18 even heading through Q1 too.
Third goes to Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing LINO SONEGO) as he took his first front row, and he was on provisional pole until late on too. A late crash, however, means he'll need to be reviewed and passed fit before the race.
Q1
It was mission accomplished for Gonzalez and by a monumental margin as he headed through with a gap of eight tenths in hand. David Alonso (CFMoto Power Electronics Aspar Team) was next up as he continues making steps in Moto2, and Filip Salač (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) and Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completed the graduates to Q2.
That left home hero Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing) losing out, just missing the cut.
Q2
Baltus was leading the way until the very end, with Zonta van den Goorbergh (RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP) in provisional second too. They both got shuffled back by that last dash launch at glory from Dixon and Gonzalez, but the Belgian and Dutch riders take P3 and P4 respectively.
Aron Canet (Fantic Racing LINO SONEGO) slots into fifth ahead of a huge step forward in Moto2 qualifying for Alonso, who takes P6 to lock out the second row as top rookie too.
Tony Arbolino (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2), Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing), Salač and Öncü complete the top ten.
For full results, click HERE – and tune in for more Moto2 on Sunday from 12:15 (UTC-5)!
Muñoz denies Quiles debut fairytale pole
David Muñoz (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) put in a late charge to pole position at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, denying rookie sensation Maximo Quiles (CFMoto Valresa Aspar Team) an unbelievable debut pole by just 0.110. Joel Kelso (LEVELUP - MTA) completes the front row, having come from Q1.
Muñoz started from pitlane last time out after a penalty so flips his fortunes 180. Quiles, meanwhile, has one single FP2 session in the dry at COTA – and actually, one single session of dry World Championship action – before nearly taking his first pole position. He was too young to be allowed to race in the first two GPs of the year.
Q1
Kelso headed rookie Guido Pini (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP), Dennis Foggia (CFMoto Valresa Aspar Team) and Stefano Nepa (SIC58 Squadra Corse) in the graduation zone, with one surprising name not making it through being that of Ryusei Yamanaka (FRINSA - MT Helmets – MSi), who’ll have some work to do on Sunday.
Q2
The fairytale was alive for Quiles until right at the end of the session, when pretty much the last fast lap on track was that of Muñoz – and the red sectors kept coming. The #64 crossed the line to take that pole position from the rookie, hoping to use it to bounce back from that pitlane start in Argentina as he looks to gain some traction.
Given Quiles’ form so far – having never raced at COTA before and making his Moto3 outright debut here after missing Thailand and Argentina due to being too young – maybe the more veteran riders will need to find that traction pretty quick…
Championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) slots into a solid fourth ahead of Foggia and Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse). Rookie Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) impressed again in P7, ahead of Nepa, Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) and Matteo Bertelle (LEVELUP - MTA), whose pole run comes to an end in P10 after two crashes.
Find full results HEREand get ready for lights out on Sunday at 11am (UTC-5)!