Marc Marquez will be gunning to keep his 100% sprint record in 2025 alive on Saturday at the MotoGP Americas Grand Prix after qualifying on pole.
The wet and mixed weather on Friday have been replaced by dry conditions on Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas, with championship leader Marc Marquez coming into day two of the third round having set the pace in practice.
Suffering his first crash as a factory Ducati rider this season in the wet FP1, Marquez's confidence was not dented in the slightest as he went over seven tenths faster than the field in Practice.
He remains the rider to beat at COTA, a venue at which he has won seven grands prix.
VR46's Fabio Di Giannantonio put in some fast late laps in Practice to move into Q2, and went on to qualify on the front row for the first time since Qatar 2023, while the Gresini Ducati of Alex Marquez completed the front row.
Pecco Bagnaia was 1.5s off team-mate Marc Marquez at the end of Practice, and struggled in qualifying as he could only manage sixth.
Already 31 points off the championship lead, he will need to make a big step on Saturday to stop that gap growing significantly in the sprint.
The sprint begins at 8pm GMT.
That's all from us for Saturday at the Americas Grand Prix.
Thanks for your company and do please join us again on Sunday from 8pm BST for live coverage of the 20-lap grand prix.
In the meantime, keep your eyes fixed on Crash.net for the all the latest from the COTA paddock.
Read the full report for the 2025 MotoGP Americas Grand Prix sprint here
Marc Marquez's 100% win record in 2025 continues despite a frantic opening lap at COTA.
Alex Marquez is second, Bagnaia returns to the podium in third. Di Giannantonio, Morbidelli, Quartararo, Acosta, Marini and Ogura take the remaining points.
Ogura gets into ninth as Binder drops to 11th behind Bezzecchi.
Ai Ogura is putting Binder under big pressure for the final point in ninth.
Marc Marquez crosses the line just 0.7s clear of Alex Marquez to start the final lap. Likely stage managing this, but he can't relax too much!
Savadori has been given a long lap for shortcutting.
Two laps to go and Marc Marquez has pulled the pin. He's over a second clear of Alex Marquez now.
Mistake for Bezzecchi at Turn 12 has allowed Binder into ninth for the final point.
Vinales has pulled into pitlane. He was running well.
Marc Marquez leads Alex Marquez still. Gap much the same as it has been the past few laps. Not a comfortable sprint this for the leader.
Morbidelli gets back into fifth at Turn 19.
Quartararo is not giving up, though, as he gets past Morbidelli at Turn 13 with a brilliant move for fifth.
Bit of VR46 on VR46 action at Turn 8 as Di Giannantonio muscles past Morbidelli. Quartararo got back up to fifth - though he was picked off into Turn 12 again.
Four laps to go. As you were at the front, though Marc Marquez has found a couple of tenths over Alex Marquez. Bagnaia is 1.3s behind Alex but is quicker than him.
Mir, by the way, lost the front at Turn 15 trying to close in on the battle for fourth ahead of him.
Quartararo has been overtaken by Di Giannantonio for fifth. Not a lot he can do about that, but the Mir crash gives him a big buffer in sixth to Acosta behind.
Halfway through the sprint and Marc Marquez continues to lead, but only by 0.4s over Alex Marquez.
Joan Mir has gone down at Turn 15. He was running in a really strong seventh.
Vinales and Acosta are having a good battle for eighth. Acosta muscles his way past at Turn 12.
Onto lap five, Marc Marquez is 0.8s clear of Alex Marquez. Bagnaia's pace is good now, but he's 1.7s behind second.
Quartararo almost lost the front into Turn 15 and drops behind Morbidelli. Just shows how much he is having to make up for the lack of power on that Yamaha.
Mir is putting on a good show in seventh. Marini has slid out of the points in 10th. Acosta has dropped to eighth after starting fourth, and is now under pressure from Vinales.
