Bagnaia Crash Opens the Door for Alex Rins, Honda Win

April 16, 2023Ray Milton
MotoGP

The MotoGP table was turned on its head after today’s Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of the Americas. Francesco Bagnaia crashed from the lead on Lap 8 of the grand prix. This saw his then championship lead erased as Alex Rins maintained his track position and took the victory for LCR Honda Castrol. In surprising fashion, Fabio Quartararo was able to amount a P3 finish after the Frenchman has struggled to find a podium in 2023 prior to this weekend. Luca Marini who was fastest in FP1 claimed P2 in the Grand Prix bouncing back from his P7 finish in the sprint.

The race lost three riders on the first lap. Aleix Espargaro, Alex Marquez and Jorge Martin all crash out on cold tires and incidental contact. Six others crashed later in the race. Those riders are listed below.

6 Stefan Bradl; Repsol Honda Team Honda
30 Takaaki Nakagami; LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda
36 Joan Mir; Repsol Honda Team Honda
1 Francesco Bagnaia ; Ducati Lenovo Team
43 Jack Miller AUS Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
25 Raul Fernandez SPA CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia

With the crashes and Marco Bezzecchi finishing the race in the points. Bezzecchi overtook Bagnaia in the championship standings. Alex Rins moves up to 3rd place over 4th place Maverick Viñales. Stefan Brandl, stand in for Marc Marquez, was not able to secure points for Repsol Honda. You can check out the race results here.

Championship Standings

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