Spain’s Marc Marquez has won only his second MotoGP World Championship race start with a measured performance in Texas, the MotoGP of the Americas, at the weekend.

His victory also made him the youngest ever premier class winner.

An almost inch-perfect performance from Marquez saw him record an astonishing maiden MotoGP victory in only his second start around the new Circuit of the Americas, finishing ahead of Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

An absorbing race that came to life with just under ten laps remaining, a botched opening bend by pole sitter Marquez would force him to play second-fiddle to Pedrosa during the opening half of the race.

However, a display of precision riding from both riders would see Marquez – on the harder rear tyre, unlike his Repsol Honda counterpart – comfortably hold station behind Pedrosa for much of the race before pouncing unexpectedly with nine laps to go.

Though Pedrosa rallied in the immediate laps in an effort to respond, Marquez was able to eke his advantage out to a solid margin by the chequered flag.

Indeed, with Pedrosa getting his trademark lightning start from second, Marquez attempted to recover the ground by going deep into turn one, but would instead slip behind both his Repsol Honda team-mate and Stefan Bradl.

Quickly dispatching of Bradl, Marquez proceeded to spend the first half of the race shadowing Pedrosa, looking ominously comfortable as the Spanish pair put on a display of precision riding, one that would see them break the chasing pack within the opening five laps.

With a Repsol Honda victory seemingly a foregone conclusion, it remained to be seen whether Marquez’s choice of a hard rear tyre – unlike the soft-shod Pedosa – would pay dividends in the critical closing stages.

T he key moment would eventually come with nine laps to go when Marquez pounced unexpectedly at one of the fast left-handers, a corner that hadn’t seen many successful overtakes over the weekend, firing up a race that had been engrossing, rather than exciting to that stage.

With Pedrosa immediately attempting to wrest the position back, though he would settle into the role of close following chaser over the coming laps, his challenge would ultimately fade as the chequered flag loomed, allowing Marquez to cross the line a winner by almost two seconds.

A sensational effort for a rider that has dominated almost the entire weekend, Marquez’s win not only comes in only his second grand prix, it sees him break Freddie Spencer’s three-decade-old record to become the premier class’ youngest ever winner at 20 year and 63 days.

Qatar victor Jorge Lorenzo circulated in a fairly lonely third place. Despite this, he remains top of the standings, albeit level with Marquez.

With the high-speed Texas circuit unable to yield the same frenetic action that distinguished the support races, a fairly spread out finishing order would see Cal Crutchlow come home in fourth position, though only after an early run-off forced him to fight his way up from sixth. That comeback would give him the satisfaction of beating Bradl, the other rider to test at the circuit prior to the event.

Following a headline-grabbing turn on his Yamaha return in Qatar, Valentino Rossi’s afternoon would prove distinctly underwhelming as he grappled with evident set-up issues from start-to-finish. Eventually getting the better of Alvaro Bautista after a fierce battle during the early stages, he would finish 16 seconds off the leaders in sixth.

Behind him, Bautista would lose another place to a fighting Andrea Dovizioso on the Ducati to come home seventh and eighth in favour of the Italian, while Nicky Hayden finished as the top local rider in ninth after holding off Andrea Iannone.

Outside the top 10, Aleix Espargaro carried his excellent CRT form through to the race, ceding just two of his starting positions in 11th to finish comfortably ahead of Bradley Smith and almost half a minute up on struggling Texan Ben Spies.

Randy de Puniet and Yonny Hernandez rounded out the points, though Michael Laverty deserved special recognition for battling his way up from last position to 16th on the in-house PBM chassis.

Photos courtesy MotoGP

Results from MotoGP round two in Texas:

1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 43m 42.123s
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 43m 43.657s
3. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 43m 45.504s
4. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 43m 48.739s
5. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 43m 54.797s
6. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 43m 58.738s
7. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 44m 4.497s
8. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 44m 4.977s
9. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) 44m 15.896s
10. Andrea Iannone ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing (GP13) 44m 24.235s
11. Aleix Espargaro ESP Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 44m 30.960s
12. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 44m 32.828s
13. Ben Spies USA Ignite Pramac Racing (GP13) 44m 56.255s
14. Randy De Puniet FRA Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 44m 57.774s
15. Yonny Hernandez COL Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 45m 1.714s
16. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM CRT)* 45m 16.514s
17. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 45m 21.946s
18. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT) 45m 22.075s
19. Claudio Corti ITA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 45m 28.896s
20. Bryan Staring AUS Go&Fun Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT)* 45m 30.207s
21. Blake Young USA Attack Performance Racing (APR-Kawasaki CRT) +1 lap

DNF:
Danilo Petrucci ITA Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)*
Lukas Pesek CZE Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)*
Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)*
* Standard ECU.

MotoGP standings after round two in Texas: