(Motorsports news) Marc Marquez went on to win his seventh race in eight years at the Circuit of Americas in Austin Texas after finishing ahead of world championship leader Fabio Quartararo and Pecco Bagnaia. This means that Fabio would have the opportunity to wrap up the world title when they head to Misano in two weeks time.

Marquez had qualified third as Pecco Bagnaia claimed his third successive pole in as many races but heading into the first corner Marquez had snatched the holeshot from the front row and quickly took the lead of the race. In doing so, Bagnaia fell to sixth as Quartararo and Marquez set the pace up front in the early stages, Jorge Martin the rookie tried to overtake Fabio but the Yamaha rider held firm to hold his position. All the riders chose the hard front tyre as Jack Miller was the only one to go with the hard rear tyre, this move paid off for him as the riders in front of him with soft rears were struggling a lot which eventually made him move all the way to fifth. Up front the signs were ominous as Marquez slowly and steadily built a gap of four seconds ahead of Quartarao who took little risk chasing down the king of COTA.

In the end Marquez finished 4.7 seconds ahead of Fabio Quartararo, which means this is only the second victory of the season for the 6 time world champion after making an injury comeback this season. Although Marquez is not at his best form, the signs for next season are ominous as he looks to break Valentino Rossi’s record of 9 premier class world championships. As for this season Fabio Quartararo can wrap the world title with a victory at Misano as he has got 254 points, extending his lead over Pecco Bagnaia in second place who has 202 points. The battle for the constructor championship is also heating up between Ducati and Yamaha as they are separated by only 9 points with 3 races remaining.

Also read: Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia wins San Marino GP after fending off Fabio Quartararo

During the podium media conference Márquez said “I pushed hard only three or four laps, then when I saw the gap was increasing I was able to ride in [two minutes] 4.8, four-high at a constant pace, with some margin, I had the margin to be a little bit faster. This is the first race this year that I came to with the intention of fighting for victory. I said that already in the press conference on Thursday. The weekend was good – Friday was really good, Saturday so-so, but today was better. I need to keep working and keep pushing because the special feeling with the bike is still not there”.