Marco Bezzecchi extends his winning streak to five races and retakes the championship lead with a commanding victory in Austin.
MARCO Bezzecchi stormed to a fifth consecutive MotoGP victory with a dominant performance at the United States Grand Prix.
The Italian’s triumph at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday also saw him reclaim the lead in the world championship standings.
Bezzecchi set a new MotoGP record by leading 121 consecutive laps across recent races. He broke the previous record of 103, set by Jorge Lorenzo in 2015, during the opening stages of the 20-lap race.
Starting from second on the grid, he quickly passed pole-sitter Fabio Di Giannantonio and controlled the race from the front. His winning time was 40 minutes and 50.653 seconds, finishing 2.036 seconds ahead of his Aprilia teammate Jorge Martin.
Spanish rider Pedro Acosta completed the podium in third place. Bezzecchi’s victory makes him the first rider since Marc Marquez in 2014 to win the opening three races of a season.
“I’m happy. I’m very happy,” Bezzecchi said after the race. He acknowledged a mistake on Saturday but credited the crowd for their support, saying, “I was very sad and they gave me a push to bounce back today.”
The win gives Bezzecchi an 81-77 points lead over reigning world champion Martin in the standings. Martin had taken a one-point lead by winning Saturday’s sprint race.
Bezzecchi’s remarkable winning run began with the final two races of last season in Portugal and Valencia. He has continued it with victories in this year’s season-openers in Thailand and Brazil, and now the United States.
Only modern-era greats Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi have achieved longer winning streaks. Marquez finished fifth in Sunday’s race, just behind Di Giannantonio who faded to fourth after starting from pole position.