Red Bull Motorsports
MotoGP
Can Marc Márquez score his 10th Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas win?
After 8 years and 9 races, the Spanish rider is unbeaten in the US. Find out how the MotoGP champ laid the foundations for achieving a perfect 10 at this weekend's Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas.
August 29, 2010 – that's the last time Marc Márquez started a World Motorcycle Championship race in the United States and didn't win. No, really.
It was the 2010 Indianapolis 125cc Grand Prix. Márquez, from pole, was leading on lap nine before crashing, re-mounting and crossing the line in fifth, 19 seconds behind compatriot and race-winner, Nico Terol.
But it didn't end there – Márquez was penalised 20 seconds after the race for performing an "illegal manoeuvre" by cutting Turns 3 and 4 of the track on the penultimate lap and gaining ground. He was eventually classified 10th.
Even back then, the 17-year-old had a penchant for drama.
The reason we're bringing this up is because the four-time MotoGP world champion comes into this weekend's 2019 Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on a remarkable nine-race MotoGP winning streak in the US. Yes, that's every race he's ridden under a fluttering Stars and Stripes on a flaming orange Repsol Honda. He's started all but one of those races on pole, too, with Stefan Bradl denying Márquez by 0.017s in qualifying at Laguna Seca in 2013 to spoil his clean sheet.
Scouring the archives, it appears the only way to slow down Márquez in America is to reduce the number of races held there. There were three in his rookie season of 2013, which coincided with Laguna Seca's final year and the first race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. For the next two years, there were two races in the US, before Indianapolis dropped off the schedule after 2015. Since then, Márquez has had to content himself with a single annual Stateside trophy.
Márquez isn't just historically prolific in US-hosted MotoGP races. Even in Moto2 he was victorious: he won at Indianapolis in 2011 and 2012 in his only two seasons in the intermediate class.
The flag was flying for Marc Márquez even before he made it to MotoGP
© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
Here's how Márquez built his chance to score a perfect 10-for-10 in the US this coming Sunday.
2013, Grand Prix of the Americas
Circuit of the Americas 2013 saw a young man come of age
© Christian Pondella?Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 2m 03.021s (2nd: Dani Pedrosa, +0.254s)
Winning margin: 1.534s (2nd: Pedrosa)
Recap: A weekend of breakthroughs at the Circuit of the Americas for Márquez; his first MotoGP pole and win in just his second MotoGP start, and one where he became the sport's youngest premier-class winner (20 years, two months, four days). Márquez took the lead from team-mate Dani Pedrosa just after half-distance in Austin's maiden 21-lap race, and never allowed his senior compatriot a look-in as he got on the board in MotoGP.
2013, US Grand Prix
The Corkscrew was conquered on his only visit to Laguna Seca
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 1m 21.193s (2nd, +0.017s behind Stefan Bradl)
Winning margin: 2.298s (2nd: Bradl)
Recap: It was Márquez's first (and only) experience of the undulating Californian circuit because the junior classes didn't race at Laguna Seca when it was on the schedule. His inexperience didn't matter: Márquez bounced back from a qualifying crash that enabled Bradl to pip him for pole to beat the German 24 hours later, recovering from a tardy start and passing Valentino Rossi in a memorable move at The Corkscrew that saw both riders briefly in the dirt.
2013, Indianapolis Grand Prix
Bigger bike, same result at Indianapolis
© Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 1m 37.958s (2nd: Pedrosa, +0.513s)
Winning margin: 3.495s (2nd: Pedrosa)
Recap: Márquez had winning form at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Moto2, but rose to a new level on his first visit to 'The Brickyard' on the bigger bike. He set a new circuit record in qualifying, broke the lap record in the race and kept both team-mate Pedrosa and countryman Jorge Lorenzo at bay after assuming the lead for good at the halfway stage.
2014, Grand Prix of the Americas
Austin brought another chance for silverware in 2014
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 2m 02.773s (2nd: Pedrosa, +0.289s)
Winning margin: 4.124s (2nd: Pedrosa)
Recap: Márquez was on a different planet in qualifying, repeatedly shattering his own circuit record, and was only challenged briefly in the race after a bizarre jump start from Lorenzo, whose Yamaha was nearly halfway up the hill to the Circuit of the Americas signature first corner before the lights went out. Once Lorenzo pitted to serve a ride-through penalty, Márquez stretched his lead to over five seconds before a wobble on the final corner of the final lap gave his pit crew a scare. It was the one moment all weekend he didn't look completely in control.
2014, Indianapolis Grand Prix
Hands up if you like 10 straight wins?
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 1m 31.619s (2nd: Andrea Dovizioso, +0.225s)
Winning margin: 1.803secs (2nd: Lorenzo)
Recap: Márquez came to Indy in a season where his title defence from 2013 couldn't have been going much better. He'd won all nine of the previous races, and took his eighth pole for 2014 on Saturday despite running wide on his first attempt. He made it a perfect 10 on Sunday, but this was a hard-fought win – embroiled in a scrap with Rossi and Lorenzo for the first half of the race, he escaped as the factory Yamaha team-mates fought one another to ease to victory.
2015, Grand Prix of the Americas
Márquez danced perilously close to the edge at Austin in 2015
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 2m 02.135s (2nd: Dovizioso, +0.339s)
Winning margin: 2.354s (2nd: Dovizioso)
Recap: Circuit of the Americas in 2015 may have produced the best single lap of Márquez's career in qualifying, after his bike shut down on the pit straight as he was about to start his final lap. He abandoned his Honda, sprinted down the pit lane to board his spare bike, and then rode it like a man possessed, seemingly within millimetres of crashing on every corner to jump from seventh place to pole in 122 seconds of white-knuckle genius. The race itself was, by comparison, a more tame affair, with Márquez passing Dovizioso on lap five for a lead he wouldn't relinquish.
2015, Indianapolis Grand Prix
Signing off at Indy in customary style in 2105
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 1m 31.884s (2nd: Pedrosa, +0.171s)
Winning margin: 0.688s (2nd: Lorenzo)
Recap: Márquez was a long shot for the title by the time the series hit Indianapolis for its final visit, but that didn't stop him winning in the US for a seventh straight time. He was made to earn this one, though; Lorenzo got the holeshot from the outside of the front row and set the pace, with Márquez sitting behind him for lap after lap without attempting to pass. Márquez then struck at the first corner with three laps to go and held firm for the closest victory of his nine on the bounce in the US.
2016, Grand Prix of the Americas
Lorenzo's errors allowed Márquez to ease to another win in 2016
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 2m 03.188s (2nd: Lorenzo, +0.069s)
Winning margin: 6.107s (2nd: Lorenzo)
Recap: Having barely kept his unblemished pole record at Austin alive – Lorenzo was just 6/100ths of a second slower – Márquez appeared vulnerable to Yamaha's world champion on race day, but only if Lorenzo could produce a flawless race. Note the use of 'could': two first-lap mistakes by the Yamaha rider saw him drop behind Dovizioso, and by the time Lorenzo got back to second place on lap five, Márquez had checked out. His margin ballooned to eight seconds before easing off as the chequered flag loomed.
2017, Grand Prix of the Americas
A ninth straight win came at a crucial time in 2017
© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 2m 02.741s (2nd: Maverick Viñales, +0.130s)
Winning margin: 3.069s (2nd: Rossi)
Recap: The Circuit of the Americas race in 2017 came at a good time for Márquez, with Yamaha's new signing Viñales having won the opening two races of the year in Qatar and Argentina to skip to a decisive series lead, helped by Márquez crashing out in round two. Pole put the pressure on Viñales, who then fell at Turn 18 chasing Márquez on lap two. With a chance to get right back into the title fight, Márquez scurried past team-mate Pedrosa on lap nine. You know what happened next.
2018, Grand Prix of the Americas
Marc Marquez en route to the 2018 win in Texas
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Qualifying: 2m 03.658s (demoted to fourth after penalty)
Winning margin: 3.560s (2nd: Vinales)
Recap: Despite being penalised during qualifying and starting from fourth in the grid after an incident with Maverick Vinales, Marquez still cut through the field and led by the end of lap one. He was never in any danger after that and his race pace was too much for the pack to catch. By the end, Marquez was 3.5 seconds clear of Vinales in second and 6.7 seconds ahead of Andrea Iannone in third and claimed his sixth straight win in Austin.
Find out more about the legendary MotoGP rider by watching this Red Bull TV documentary.
2 min
Get to know Marc Márquez
Marc Márquez promises more success during the 2018 season and he's got the skills to deliver.
Be sure to download the free Red Bull TV app and catch the MotoGP action on all your devices! Get the app here
