20:09
Quartararo is having to push that Yamaha so hard on the brakes just to keep up with the Ducati of Bagnaia. Morbidelli is right with this pair now in the third sector.
Pecco Bagnaia, Ducati Corse, 2025 Americas MotoGP
© Gold and Goose
2025 Americas MotoGP: Sprint at it happened
Text commentary of the sprint for the 2025 MotoGP Americas Grand Prix as it happened
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The wet and mixed weather on Friday have been replaced by dry conditions on Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas, with championship leader Marc Marquez coming into day two of the third round having set the pace in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.
29 Mar 2025
20:09
Lap 4/10
Onto the fourth lap and Marc Marquez is 0.6s clear of Alex Marquez in the lead. 1.4s splits A.Marquez to Bagnaia.
20:08
Lap 3/10
Onto lap three, Marc Marquez is half a secodn clear of Alex Marquez, while Bagnaia is quickly being dropped just like in the first two races.
Quartararo is looking menacing for third, while Morbidelli and Di Giannantonio aren't far behind.
20:07
Quartararo is all over the back of Bagnaia now for third.
20:07
Lap 2/10
Marc Marquez had a massive moment going through Turn 17, which is what sent him wide. He leads from Alex Marquez and Bagnaia.
20:05
Marc Marquez made a mistake at Turn 18, which gave Alex Marquez a chance to lead briefly. But Marc is back in front at the last corner. What a race!
20:05
So it's M.Marquez from Bagnaia, Alex Marquez, Quartararo, Acosta, Morbidelli, Di Giannantonio, Mir, Vinales and Marini.
20:04
Bagnaia leads again at Turn 3, while Marquez carves back ahead at Turn 7.
20:03
Start - lap 1/10
Bagnaia leads at Turn 1! But Marc Marquez gets back ahead into Turn 2.
20:00
Warm-up lap
The warm-up lap is underway.
19:59
You have to feel with that choice of medium rear, Zarco is very much using this sprint as a test for the grand prix given how difficult it will be to get points today from 15th over just 10 laps.
19:58
Tyre choice
Just one change to make you aware of: Johann Zarco in 15th has made a late change to the medium rear.
Everyone is on the medium front, while all but Zarco are on the soft rear.
19:57
Last year's Americas GP winner Maverick Vinales goes from 10th on the Tech3 KTM. He is yet to score points in a sprint this season.
19:55
Five minutes till lights out.
19:54
Honda's last victory in MotoGP came at COTA in 2023. Luca Marini and team-mate Joan Mir go from seventh and eighth today.
19:52
Keep an eye on Acosta in fourth. He was on the podium at COTA last year in his rookie season, while Marc Marquez warned after Friday that the nature of the circuit plays into the RC16's strong points.
19:51
Coming into this race, Marc Marquez is 16 points clear of Alex Marquez in the standings, with Bagnaia 31 points adrift.
19:50
VR46, incidentally, has a new livery for this weekend - but it will roll that out on Sunday.
19:49
Hard to look past anyone other than Marc Marquez winning this win, but the last time Di Giannantonio qualified on the front row was Qatar 2023 - when he won his first grand prix.
19:46
Everyone is heading onto the grid on the medium front tyre and soft rear.
19:45
Pitlane is open for the grid to make their way to the grid.
19:43
Marc Marquez has maintained his 100% pole record in 2025. Now he will look to extend his 100% sprint record.
19:41
Sprint - starting grid
Row 1 - M.Marquez, Di Giannantonio, A.Marquez
Row 2 - Acosta, Morbidelli, Bagnaia
Row 3 - Marini, Mir, Miller
Row 4 - Vinales, Quartararo, Aldeguer
Row 5 - Bezzecchi, Rins, Zarco
Row 6 - Binder, Bastianini, Ogura
Row 7 - R.Fernandez, A.Fernandez, Chantra
Row 8 - Savadori
19:39
Sprint build-up
Good evening and welcome back to our live coverage of the 2025 Americas Grand Prix.
The 10-lap MotoGP sprint will start in 20 minutes.
17:03
We're taking a little break from our live coverage but do keep your eyes on Crash.net on the run up to the sprint at 8pm GMT for all of the latest from the COTA paddock.
