A record that stood for 31 years has been broken today with Marc Marquez claiming his place with the greats as the youngest ever MotoGP winner at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Texas.

The Repsol Honda rider took the win from teammate Dani Pedrosa after the pair battled for most of the race duration. Early on it appeared that Pedrosa may have had the measure of his fellow Spaniard but it took just one decisive move from Marquez to determine the outcome.

Marquez was shuffled to third after starting from pole position, with Pedrosa and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl leading the field through the first lap.

Soon the test pacesetters would make a gap, even leaving reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo in their wake.

Marquez’ move came on lap twelve, a hard but fair pass. Pedrosa kept a close watch, hoping for a mistake that never eventuated.

The winning margin was 1.534s, with Yamaha’s Lorenzo staying in the hunt for a solid third place which keeps him level with Marquez in the world championship points lead.

Cal Crutchlow rode to a strong fourth place finish, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider exceeding expectations by beating Stefan Bradl and Valentino Rossi who both had valuable test time on track prior to the event.

Marc Marquez atop the podium at the Circuit of the Americas.

In the end it was a lonely race for Bradl, who was around four seconds clear of Rossi as he crossed the line for fifth.

Andrea Dovizioso got the nod in a lively battle with Alvaro Bautista, the factory Ducati holding out the Gresini Honda by half-a-second. Nicky Hayden was ninth and Andrea Iannone rounded out the top ten.

Aleix Espargaro was 11th and first home of the CRT machines, beating the non-CRT mounts of Bradley Smith and Ben Spies.

Australia’s Bryan Staring battled to 20th place to make his first MotoGP finish on the Gresini Honda CRT bike.

Despite the challenge of racing on an entirely new circuit there were very few incidents, with only CRT rider Lukas Pesek crashing out and a total of three retirements.

Nicolas Terol was a comfortable winner in the Moto2 class, crossing the line 3.125s clear of Esteve Rabat after taking the lead on lap four.

Rabat and Mika Kallio duelled to the line, the former holding his ground for a hard-fought second place by just 0.05s.

Australia’s Ant West put in one of the best rides of the race to come through to seventh place, under 10 seconds off the leader as the chequered flag was waved.

A red flag stoppage saw the Moto3 race split into two parts, though both would feature the same riders in the top three.

Alex Rins continued his strong run up front, beating home Maverick Vinales and Luis Salom as the three KTM machines continued their strong initial form.

Jack Miller was Australia’s top finisher in sixth place, just beaten to the line by Miguel Oliveira.

Arthur Sissis improved to twelfth in the second sprint to the flag, rounding out a solid showing for Australian entrants in the inaugural COTA grand prix in Austin.

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