Bagnaia, Miller fall as Rins wins crash-filled COTA

Another Francesco Bagnaia crash helped Alex Rins score an emotional drought-breaking win for Honda LCR in a dramatic Americas Grand Prix.

Reigning champion and Sprint winner Bagnaia was the hot favourite and in complete control, but succumbed to the pressure applied from Rins and crashed out for a second straight race on Lap 8.

This helped Marco Bezzecchi extend his championship lead from one to 11 points with P6, while Luca Marini and Fabio Quartararo joined Rins on the podium, who scored Honda LCR’s first win since Cal Crutchlow’s Argentina 2018 success.

Another rider to suffer a slip was Australia’s Jack Miller, who charged from 10th to third, but lost the front of his KTM.

The Aussie was one of nine riders to fall in a dramatic war of attrition at the Circuit of the Americas.

But one man who kept cool under the sun was Rins, who was overjoyed to secure a drought-breaking win for both his team and his manufacturer Honda, which had not won for 25 races since Misano 2021.

“I am very happy because we got the win here in Moto3, Moto2, Suzuki and now with Honda,” Rins said in Parc ferme.

“I am so thankful to my team. I was trying to push a lot with Francesco (Bagnaia) and struggled a little bit in Sector 2 and 3. But I was pushing so much in the chicanes.”

Just like the Sprint, Bagnaia and Rins charged into Turn 1 side by side, but this time the Ducati rider came out on top around the outside.

The #1 was forced to do the same at Turn 11 as the Honda LCR rider showed he was up for the fight.

Behind the battle for the lead, the carnage had begun. Jorge Martin took out fellow Ducati rider Alex Marquez amid the first sector jostling for position, while Aleix Espargaro also went down on his own at Turn 12.

A beneficiary of the chaos was Miller, who flew through the pack from 10th to fourth by the first corner and on the podium by the end of lap one.

He sat one second back from Bagnaia and Rins, who resumed their Sprint battle for the lead.

After a wild first lap, the race settled down, with Bagnaia and Rins setting a scintillating pace at the front.

Rins set a chain of fastest laps on the LCR Honda and was all over the back of the Ducati in the twisty sections of COTA.

But the battle was cut short in dramatic fashion when Bagnaia lost the front end of his #1 bike and crashed out in Turn 2.

The reigning world champion’s second straight Grand Prix crash released Rins into the lead by two seconds ahead of Quartararo and Marini.

Rins’ former Suzuki teammate Joan Mir crashed out from a points position to complete a tough weekend for Repsol Honda.

Miguel Oliveira made a nice move on Joan Zarco, who also lost position to Brad Binder one corner later.

But the KTM rider ran wide at Turn 12 to giveaway the position before losing control of his bike completely at Turn 15 and crashing out.

Moments later Takaaki Nakagami slid off at Turn 1 as the race became a battle of survival with Marc Marquez substitute Stefan Bradl also hitting the tarmac.

On Lap 13 Marini finally got by Quartararo to steal second with supreme straight line speed and gave Rins something to think about.

However, nothing was going to stop Rins from scoring a sensational breakthrough win ahead of Marini and Quartararo as just 13 riders reached the finish.

2023 Americas Grand Prix results

1 Alex Rins LCR Honda 41:14.649

2 Luca Marini VR46 Racing +3.498

3 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha +4.936

4 Maverick Vinales Aprilia +8.319

5 Miguel Oliveira RNF Racing +9.989

6 Marco Bezzecchi VR46 Racing +12.049

7 Johann Zarco Pramac Ducati +12.242

8 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha +20.399

9 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing +27.981

10 Augusto Fernandez Tech3 +28.217

11 Michele Pirro Ducati +32.370

12 Jonas Folger Tech3 +1:08.065

13 Brad Binder KTM +1:23.012

DNF Stefan Bradl Repsol Honda +2 Laps

DNF Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda +9 Laps

DNF Joan Mir Repsol Honda +12 Laps

DNF Francesco Bagnaia Ducati +13 Laps

DNF Jack Miller KTM + 14 Laps

DNF Raul Fernandez RNF Racing +14 Laps

DNF Alex Marquez Gresini Racing +20 Laps

DNF Aleix Espargaro Aprilia +20 Laps

DNF Jorge Martin Pramac Ducati +20 Laps

2023 MotoGP riders championship

1 Marco Bezzecchi 64 points

2 Francesco Bagnaia 53

3 Alex Rins 47

4 Maverick Vinales 45

5 Johann Zarco 44

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