Maverick Viñales has taken a liking to Saturdays. The driver from Roses won the Sprint race again, this time in Austin, authoritatively beating Marc Márquez and Jorge Martín at the Circuit of the Americas. The same positions as in the Portuguese Sprint.
The Empordà native, who had already won on Saturday in Portimao, made use of his privileged starting position achieved with pole, and put 2 seconds ahead of him to distance himself from the threat of Márquez, who this time won the game over Pedro Acosta, fourth.
The starting grid promised strong emotions, with Viñales –on pole-, Acosta and Márquez on the first row, and the three 2024 Ducati, Bagnaia, Bastianini and Martín on the second. Six top drivers to aspire to everything.
Viñales started well, maintaining the privileged position, followed by Márquez, who gained second place from Acosta in acceleration, and the worst off was Bagnaia, whose Ducati was lifted and he dropped to 10th position, which which favored Martín, fifth.
After three laps, the front trio stretched out, opening a gap of more than 1 second with Bastianini and Martín. The Madrid native became impatient, behind the Italian, seeing that he was losing the lead of the three Spaniards, and overtook the red Ducati in the third lap to place fourth. Meanwhile, at the front, Viñales was 7 tenths ahead of Márquez in one lap (the fourth) and was 1.3 seconds away entering the fifth lap.
Martín, the only driver who has been on all the podiums this season, in short and long races, arrived very excited and caught up with Acosta on the fifth lap. So Márquez, the man from Murcia and the man from Madrid were already riding together. What a trio! Viñales was heading towards victory with a 2-second margin with five laps remaining.
Acosta gave the first bite to Márquez, but the Catalan scrambled and regained position over the rookie. A skirmish that Martín took advantage of to overtake the Murcian, who was relegated to fourth place.
Marc benefited from the fight, as he was able to breathe and gain a few meters of distance. With three laps remaining, the man from Cervera was 1 second away from Martín and Acosta, heading towards second position, the second consecutive in Sprint.
The front positions were no longer moved. Viñales, very solid, kept 2 seconds over Márquez at the start of the last lap, so that his victory was not in danger, his second consecutive in Sprint, while Marc tied for second place, Martín for third and Acosta for fourth. Aleix Espargaró signed the fifth.
Bagnaia was only able to climb two positions, from 10th to 8th, and minimize the damage by adding 2 points to his account.
For Jorge Martín, the podium had a “fantastic” flavor. “We are showing ourselves to be very constant, which is the most important thing,” said the Madrid native, who has collected five podiums (2 in the Sunday race and three in the Sprint), which consolidates his leadership in the World Championship.
Marc Márquez, with two podiums in a row on Saturday, discovered that he waited for “the time to come” to attack Acosta. “I was half a second faster than him,” but he admitted to being slower than Viñales to fight for Sunday victory.
Maverick Viñales, for his part, confessed to “dreaming” about his second victory. “We deserve it. We’re going to keep going for it,” said an elated Mack.
