The last years of Marverick Viñales have not been easy. After his forced departure from Yamaha, upon his arrival at Aprilia he has been overshadowed by Aleix Espargaró. But 2024 has started in a very different way for him and what happened this weekend in Austin during the GP of the Americas is proof.
Viñales has given a master class in how to control each and every one of the possible scenarios, being fast within one lap to achieve pole, dominating with an iron fist in the Sprint and coming back from the middle of the table in Sunday's race. And Sunday's race is already MotoGP history because of everything we saw and, of course, because of the great work of the Spanish rider.
BATMAN IS IN A HURRY! 🦇
Maverick Viñales manages to overtake Pedro Acosta and take the lead 🔥#MotoGP 🏁 #AmericasGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/9VPYURLWEE
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) April 14, 2024
In the first corner, a multiple touch caused both him and his teammate Aleix to go backwards to begin a great comeback that, in the case of Maverick, reached first position. Without losing his nerve, without rushing, riding faster than anyone else and showing the best version of Viñales that has ever been seen.
Thanks to this, he achieved the long-awaited victory to also become the first rider in the MotoGP era to win with three different brands. In the entire history of the Motorcycle World Championship, only three other riders had achieved this feat in the top category, Mike Hailwood, Eddie Lawson and Randy Mamola.
But it's not that Viñales had a difficult time just because he fell in the middle of the pack, it's that Jorge Martín, Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta carried the weight of the race with a spectacular pace while being able to get ahead every time there was a gap. . The three gave us a true recital that ended when Marc Márquez took the lead and crashed shortly after.
A bad GP finish for the eight-time champion who, however, looked positively at the situation and that's not to mention that throughout the weekend he was the only rider with a Ducati GP23 capable of standing up to the motorcycles. 2024 being the best Ducati in the Sprint.
IT JUST CAN'T BE! 💔
FALL OF MARC MÁRQUEZ WHEN HE HAD BEEN THE LEADER! WHAT A PITY!#MotoGP 🏁 #AmericasGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/1CFv3u6AHG
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) April 14, 2024
Pedro Acosta took a crash course in MotoGP in Austin
The one who continues to establish himself in MotoGP by leaps and bounds is Pedro Acosta. The Murcian was on the verge of the Sprint Race podium, where Viñales, Márquez and Martín beat him, but he took revenge on Sunday. A great result for a rider who has been on the podium in two of his first three GPs in the premier class and who, let's not forget, is only in his fourth season in the Motorcycle World Championship.
Sunday's podium was completed by Enea Bastianini who, without making much noise, is second overall, although he is 21 points behind Jorge Martín who had one of those weekends that end up giving you the title at the end of the year. . And Martín went all out in Q2, but not only did he not get pole but he crashed on two occasions, one of them very lucky not to fly away and suffer a tremendous fall. But he recovered, went as far as he could go on Saturday to finish third and fourth on Sunday, adding 20 more points that give him a cushion of 21 points in three races.
THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY KIND OF SENSE!
WHAT AN ADVANCE FROM ACOSTA
WHAT AN ADVANCE FROM MARCTHIS IS AMAZING#MotoGP 🏁 #AmericasGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/mtgOZZmIAT
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) April 14, 2024
Bagnaia, in a way, did something similar to Martín, which was to try to score as many points as possible both on Saturday and Sunday, where he finished fifth ahead of Fabio de Gianantonio and Alex Espargaró who completed the comeback in seventh place. Marco Bezzechi, Brad Binder and Raúl Fernández, also after coming back, completed the top 10.
Now the next stop of the MotoGP World Championship will be in Jerez in two weekends. The European journey begins at home and it will do so by adding a luxury guest to the roster of drivers and Dani Pedrosa will race as a guest on his favorite circuit.
Just how MotoGP 2024 has started, what we have seen in Austin and the desire to enjoy Dani Pedrosa again. Who isn't looking forward to the next Grand Prix?
