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Marc Márquez’s weekend at the United States Grand Prix at COTA was defined more by penalties, aero and injury issues than by his finishing position. A Sprint crash with Fabio Di Giannantonio earned him a mandatory long‑lap penalty — a sanction Márquez said resulted from a risky pass attempt — that cost him exactly 2.505 seconds when taken on lap 4 and dropped him to 11th early in the race. He recovered to fifth after an extended scrap with Enea Bastianini, finishing just 0.143 seconds clear of the Italian. Márquez said rivals “increase the intensity” when they race him and that Sprint mistakes and first‑lap penalties carry over to the main race.

Aerodynamics and “dirty air” compounded Márquez’s problems at COTA. He told reporters being stuck in dirty air made it “practically impossible” to ride competitively and estimated the effect at roughly a second per lap. The race also underlined wider technical gaps: Aprilia completed a one-two with Marco Bezzecchi (who won, Aprilia’s third straight factory win) and Jorge Martin, while Ducati staff acknowledged tire-wear problems at COTA and introduced short-term Aprilia-style rear aero and leg wings.

Ducati technical staff and analysts warned the team is playing catch-up after Aprilia’s winter step. Team principal Davide Tardozzi said further engineering updates are expected by Jerez as Ducati tries to close the gap. Tardozzi added Márquez was “not in good shape” following shoulder injuries sustained in Indonesia and will use the break before Jerez to work on his shoulder. Márquez said, “It’s me who’s missing, not the bike,” complained he lacked feel in the opening laps, that fresh tires made the Desmosedici feel “aggressive,” and that he needed six to ten laps to ride competitively. Despite showing strong mid-race pace — Tardozzi highlighted he could gain roughly eight tenths over 5–6 laps — Márquez sat fifth in the championship, 36 points adrift of the leader, and warned a turnaround was not guaranteed as he prepares to focus on starts and arm recovery before Jerez.

Marco Bezzecchi won the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on an Aprilia, while Toprak Razgatlioglu scored his first MotoGP premier-class point by finishing 15th after overtaking a fading Fabio Quartararo late in the race. “I’m happy with the point, but we were 25 seconds behind the leader,” Razgatlioglu said, underlining the roughly 25-second gap to the frontrunners and the limits of the Yamaha package.

Razgatlioglu credited Pramac teammate Jack Miller and lessons learned on and off track for helping him finish and collect a point, saying he had adopted a calmer, smoother “Superbike” riding style that helped manage troublesome Michelin tires. He also said he learned from following Quartararo during the event and from testing with Miller, but admitted weaknesses remained, notably in early braking zones, and he matched and then surpassed his 2025 crash tally in recent rounds.

Pramac director Gino Borsoi called the result “a morale boost,” and the team noted it was the first MotoGP championship point for the updated Yamaha M1 V4 package while stressing their ambitions remained higher and hoping it would be the first of many. Yamahas nonetheless filled the final four finishing positions at Austin, underscoring the gap to the Aprilia-led frontrunners, and Razgatlioglu praised the Circuit of the Americas and vowed to push for better results as the championship moved toward the European rounds.

Senna Agius, 20, won the Moto2 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas after the race was red-flagged and shortened following a multi-rider crash. The restarted race ran for 10 laps; Agius, who had qualified fifth, worked his way forward and made a decisive pass with two laps remaining to hold off Celestino Vietti and record his third Moto2 victory. Reports listed his winning margin at about 0.5 seconds (timed at 0.497 seconds in one account). Agius dedicated the result to his Intact GP mechanic Roberto Lunadei, who was killed in a road accident two weeks earlier, describing it on Instagram as “More than a win,” and he received public congratulations from Mark Webber. Because he is 20, Agius was unable to celebrate with a traditional shoey in the United States, where the legal drinking age is 21.

The race was halted after a large pile-up at the Turn 11 hairpin that was variously described as involving seven riders and specifically named Sergio Garcia, David Alonso, Daniel Munoz, Colin Veijer, Filip Salac, Alberto Ferrandez and Angel Piqueras. Reports said Alberto Ferrandez failed to slow and struck Filip Salac, and that Ferrandez and Piqueras were taken to the on-site medical center. Officials red-flagged the event and shortened the distance to 10 laps for the restart; pole-sitter Barry Baltus received a long-lap penalty for riding the wrong way under the red flag and was passed by Agius on lap three of the restart. Deniz Oncu crashed on the sighting lap before the restart, and Dani Holgado collided with Joe Roberts on the opening lap before serving a long-lap penalty that dropped him down the order. Several accounts noted that the crash, the shortened distance and ensuing penalties were decisive in shaping the final finishing order.

Agius rode for Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP on a Kalex with Pirelli control tires, Vietti finished second on an HDR SpeedRS Boscoscuro machine and Izan Guevara was third on Boscoscuro equipment for Blu Cru Pramac Yamaha. David Alonso was recorded as finishing fourth and Manuel Gonzalez fifth, with Joe Roberts ninth for the OnlyFans American Racing Team. Sources differ on some details: while one report listed David Alonso among the riders involved in the Turn 11 incident, others record him recovering from 17th on the grid to fourth; and summaries vary on the championship lead after COTA — one set of standings put Manuel Gonzalez on top with 39.5 points (3.5 clear of Guevara) and Daniel Holgado third on 33, while another account described Holgado as the championship leader. Moto2’s next race is scheduled at Jerez on April 24-26.