Texas Grand Prix, Austin: Bridgestone Race Review

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez emerged victorious from a race-long battle with his teammate Dani Pedrosa at Circuit of the Americas to become the youngest ever race winner in the premier class of Grand Prix racing.

Marquez’s stellar performance at the age of twenty years and sixty-three days sees him surpass former record holder Freddie Spencer who was twenty years and one hundred and ninety-six days old when he won the 500cc Belgian Grand Prix in 1982, coincidentally also on a Honda. Yesterday, Marquez also broke Spencer’s record for the youngest ever rider to claim a premier class pole position during qualifying for the inaugural Americas Grand Prix.

Marquez was one of two riders to choose the hard compound rear slick for the race and the decision paid off for the MotoGP™ rookie as he passed Pedrosa on lap twelve and held off his teammate to take the chequered flag by 1.534 seconds. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo took the final step of the podium, the reigning MotoGP champion finishing 3.381 seconds behind Marquez. In another strong performance, Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro was the first CRT rider across the finish line in eleventh place.

The race took place in similar track conditions to qualifying yesterday, with warm weather and a peak track temperature of 45°C. As a result, tyre choice amongst the riders for the race was similar to what was seen in qualifying, with twenty-two out of twenty-four riders selecting the softer option rear slick, and nineteen riders selecting the harder front slick. The CRT-specific soft option rear slick proved to be extremely popular, with all riders on this specification of machine selecting the option for the race.

Marquez and Lorenzo – who claimed his one hundredth podium at the Americas Grand Prix – are now equal on forty-one points in the MotoGP™ championship standings, while Pedrosa moves into third overall with thirty-three points from two races.

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft & Medium; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)

Weather: Dry. Ambient 25-25°C; Track 43-45°C (Bridgestone measurement)

Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department
“Congratulations to Marc Marquez for becoming the youngest ever winner in the top class of Grand Prix racing and also well done to Repsol Honda for their excellent team performance this weekend. The first Americas Grand Prix was a great occasion and I am pleased so many fans came to the circuit to enjoy the show. I am pleased with how our tyres performed on a weekend where the grip level of the track changed so much and our tyre allocation for the first race at this circuit was well suited to the conditions we had here. It has been an exciting start to the season and I hope the close racing continues at the next race in Jerez.”

Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“Today’s race was a great way to end a good weekend for Bridgestone. Both of the front and rear slick compound options performed well during the race and I am very pleased with tyre performance over the race weekend. We had a wide range of track and weather conditions between FP1 and the race and so every slick option was utilised over the race weekend to help riders get the best out of the changeable conditions. It was also a positive debut for our CRT-specific rear slicks and the feedback we got from the riders this weekend has confirmed that this was a worthwhile change to the tyre regulations.”

Source: Bridgestone Motorsport Press Release