Kent Cruises to Comfortable Victory in Austin

Danny Kent took one of the most dominant victories in Moto3 history at the Circuit of the Americas to take the early championship lead. The Briton was untouchable from the moment he climbed to the front of the leading group early on and eventually beat rookie sensation Fabio Quartararo by 8.5s despite cantering through the final couple of laps.

Overnight rain left damp patches around the circuit and Kent took an understandably cautious approach in the opening laps as Miguel Oliveira made the running. The Portuguese rider only led as far as the first corner on lap four though as the increasingly confident Kent eased past on the brakes into the uphill hairpin. The Leopard Racing rider didn’t break away initially but as Oliveira fell into the clutches of Jorge Navarro and several other pursuers, the tow was soon lost. By half distance, the gap was already in excess of five seconds and there was no stopping Kent from that point on as the 21 year old eased to his third career victory.

The two remaining podium positions were much less clear cut though as the traditional bunch scrap in the lightweight class became an eight-man squabble for second place. Navarro took himself out of contention with a crash at turn eleven, the Spaniard following Francesco Bagnaia off the road, while Miguel Oliveira slid out of second with eight laps remaining, losing the front end of his KTM through the esses.

Through all the mayhem, the experienced heads of Alexis Masbou and Efren Vazquez ghosted to the front of the group but the two oldest riders in the field were outshone by the youngest as Fabio Quartararo snatched second, the 15 year old outbraking the pair into turn thirteen on the last lap. Vazquez brought his Honda home in third to secure a double-rostrum for Leopard Racing but Masbou tumbled at the final corner, falling to sixteenth and surrendering the championship lead in the process.

Enea Bastianini backed up his Qatar podium with fourth in Texas while Brad Binder took fifth on the first of the KTMs. John McPhee took sixth while Andrea Locatelli edged out compatriot Romano Fenati for seventh. Isaac Vinales was ninth in the end with Karel Hanika rounding out the top ten.

 

Moto3 Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas: Race Result (18 Laps)

Pos	Rider	Constructor	Team	Best Time
1	52. Danny Kent	Honda	Leopard Racing	41:32.287
2	20. Fabio Quartararo	Honda	Estrella Galicia 0,0	+8.532
3	7. Efren Vazquez	Honda	Leopard Racing	+8.652
4	33. Enea Bastianini	Honda	Junior Team Gresini Moto3	+8.811
5	41. Brad Binder	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	+9.556
6	17. John McPhee	Honda	Saxoprint-RTG	+13.869
7	55. Andrea Locatelli	Honda	Junior Team Gresini Moto3	+20.442
8	5. Romano Fenati	KTM	Sky Racing Team VR46	+20.611
9	32. Isaac Vinales	Husqvarna	Husqvarna Factory Laglisse	+20.863
10	98. Karel Hanika	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	+20.913
11	84. Jakub Kornfeil	KTM	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	+21.249
12	16. Andrea Migno	KTM	Sky Racing Team VR46	+23.725
13	65. Philipp Oettl	KTM	Schedl GP Racing	+32.218
14	31. Niklas Ajo	KTM	RBA Racing Team	+36.702
15	12. Matteo Ferrari	Mahindra	San Carlo Team Italia	+37.283
16	10. Alexis Masbou	Honda	Saxoprint-RTG	+47.027
17	6. Maria Herrera	Husqvarna	Husqvarna Factory Laglisse	+59.257
18	2. Remy Gardner	Mahindra	CIP	+1:03.748
19	91. Gabriel Rodrigo	KTM	RBA Racing Team	+1:04.611
20	63. Zulfahmi Khairuddin	KTM	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	+1:16.968
21	19. Alessandro Tonucci	Mahindra	Outox Reset Drink Team	+1:27.397
22	22. Ana Carrasco	KTM	RBA Racing Team	+1:40.409
23	23. Niccolo Antonelli	Honda	Ongetta-Rivacold	+1:43.841
24	29. Stefano Manzi	Mahindra	San Carlo Team Italia	+1:46.105
25	11. Livio Loi	Honda	RW Racing GP	+1 Lap
NC	24. Tatsuki Suzuki	Mahindra	CIP	+1 Lap
NC	44. Miguel Oliveira	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	+8 Laps
NC	21. Francesco Bagnaia	Mahindra	Mapfre Mahindra Team	+9 Laps
NC	9. Jorge Navarro	Honda	Estrella Galicia 0,0	+9 Laps
NC	88. Jorge Martin	Mahindra	Mapfre Mahindra Team	+10 Laps
NC	76. Hiroki Ono	Honda	Leopard Racing	+12 Laps
NC	95. Jules Danilo	Honda	Ongetta-Rivacold	+13 Laps
NC	40. Darryn Binder	Mahindra	Outox Reset Drink Team	+17 Laps
NC	58. Juanfran Guevara	Mahindra	Mapfre Mahindra Team	+18 Laps