He had a date with history, and he didn’t fail. Maverick Viñales, the potential champion who never arrived, so often erratic, fickle or erratic, became the sheriff of Austin with a superb victory at the Circuit of the Americas, coming back from 11th on the first lap, after overcoming the best: the champion Bagnaia, the leader Martín and the great entertainer Acosta.
A triumph as extraordinary and well-deserved as it is historic, as the rider from Roses became the first to win with three different factories in the MotoGP era: with Aprilia, Yamaha and Suzuki.
“It has been very hard to get here, we have suffered a lot. My family knows it. In Austria I didn’t know whether to fold. I couldn’t do it anymore. But I didn’t give up, I believed in myself. I’ve always had enough support to keep getting up every morning,” said an emotional Viñales, crying in front of Dazn’s microphone.
Nothing foreshadowed at the start that he would end up winning like he did in Austin. His start was unfortunate, the privilege of the pole thrown in the bin. The traffic lights went out and Acosta was the fastest starter, leading for the first time in MotoGP. Disastrous Maverick, who fell to 11th position after touching Bagnaia. And Marc Márquez, regular, from third to fifth.
Soon the fight for victory was forged between Acosta and Martín, to which Márquez and Bagnaia were added, in a spectacular four-way duel. Viñales, without making a sound, climbed to eighth place.
The tension soared at every lap in a spectacular race, with countless advances on the leading positions. Martín opened the hostilities when he nailed the ax to Acosta to snatch the lead from him. An attack from which the Tiburón de Mazarrón could not defend itself. As in the Sprint, Márquez took advantage of the blow to overtake the Murcia and catch Martín. Bagnaia also imposed his gallantry to overtake Acosta and take third.
But far from collapsing the novice Acosta, a four-way duel for the victory opened, in which the winner was not yet known: Viñales, who continued to climb at his devilish pace. While he wasn’t there, the quartet bled to death.
The first to collapse in the fight was the champion Bagnaia, who received the insolent jab from Acosta for placing second (v. 7), and also that of a Márquez who saw himself facing his great opportunity on his fetish circuit, where he has won seven times.
However, the Cerverí would be the second to disappear from the equation. He would do it, ironically, right after he had become the leader. On lap 10, Acosta launched his open-heart attack for the win. With barre and aggression he ate Martín to be first. But it didn’t last long, because Márquez overtook the Madrid native and Acosta to attack the lead (v. 11). However, when Cervera’s pulled hard to open a hole and consolidate the lead, he went to the ground. He lost the rear wheel of the Ducati and slid on the asphalt. Acosta was leading again… although now he had another threat: Viñales.
At the back came Maverick, who got out of the middle of Bagnaia and Martín to take second. And without a break, with inertia, he put the wheel into the Murcian without any complexes, and with a superior pace he took the lead on lap 13/20.
Maverick’s pace was devastating. In a few laps he was more than 1 second away from Acosta, who in turn was 8 tenths away from Martín. The Murcian repeated the podium, the youngest in history to achieve it, dethroning Márquez.
In the final laps, Viñales extended his lead over Acosta to 1.4 seconds to secure his American double, assert himself and re-position himself in the World Cup in third place, 24 points behind Martín.
The leader suffered the furious attack of Bastianini, he was left without an answer and without third place, the first race in which he does not get on the podium this year. Although he maintains the command of the World Cup with enough margin.
