Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Cruise to Second and Fourth Place at COTA

Race

Blistering sunshine at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA), with blue sky as far as the eye could see, was an omen for a faultless race by Movistar Yamaha's MotoGP team. The pair had a rather lonely ride at the Grand Prix of The Americas, securing second and fourth place respectively.

Viñales started from first place on the grid and was in third place after the first corner. He needed a couple of laps to find a good rhythm before he started chasing the man in front of him,

With 14 laps to go, the Spaniard put in a block pass into turn 1 on Andrea Iannone, so he had a clear track ahead of him to hunt down the race leader. He consistently dropped laps in the 2'05s, but was not able to inch closer and decided to focus on managing the gap to the riders in pursuit. He did so brilliantly, finishing the race in second place, holding a 3.560s gap to the front over the finish line.

Today's race results see Viñales climb up to third place in the championship standings, with 41 points.

Yamaha is now in second place in the Constructor Championship with 56 points, while Movistar Yamaha MotoGP moved up to first position in the Team Championship, having scored 70 points.

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action in two weeks' time, when the MotoGP paddock will arrive in Jerez, Spain, for the Gran Premio de España.

Maverick Viñales

Position: 2nd - Championship: 4th - Points: 41

"Starting from the front row made it much easier, and I could breathe more calmly. I was able to control the first three or four riders quite well. I'm happy overall, because the team focused on the weekend in a different way, and that was so good. I think we know how to go fast with this Yamaha and today we proved it. Our bike seems to be stronger than it was here last year, I felt good during the race. Even though it was difficult to challenge Marc, and even with the difficulties we had, we still came in second. I didn't want to make the same mistake as I made in last year's race, so I gave up on trying to chase Marc and controlled the gap to Andrea even more. I feel positive, but we have to keep pushing. Every day I'm feeling better on the bike and we're going to go up and up. The feeling with the bike has changed a lot. I feel good on the bike right now and we've got to keep it like that. I can't wait for the race in Jerez. Now we'll have four or five races where I like the tracks a lot, I really enjoy riding there. We're going to go for the win, I know we are not far away, and we're going to push for it."

Massimo Meregalli

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - Team Director

"Second and fourth are good results for our team after a difficult last GP. The weekend in Austin is never very easy for us, but after yesterday's qualifying we were quite confident that we could give a good performance. Both riders were cutting through the field together. Maverick's race pace was fast, he rode consistent 2'05s laps, collected some very important points for the championship, and closed in considerably on the top of the championship standings. Overall, we're satisfied because we made another step. We improved the bike and are looking to confirm the findings we made here this weekend at the next round back in Europe."

Write up and image provided by Yamaha