Austin MotoGP race
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Running order: 1 Marquez; 2 Vinales; 3 Iannone; 4 Rossi; 5 Zarco; 6 Crutchlow; 7 Dovizioso; 8 Pedrosa; 9 Rins; 10 Lorenzo; 11 Rabat; 12 Miller; 13 Syahrin; 14 A Espargaro; 15 Smith; 16 Petrucci; 17 P Espargaro; 18 Morbidelli; 19 Nakagami; 20 Bautista; 21 Luthi; 22 Redding; 23 Simeon; 24 Abraham.
Vinales overtakes Iannone for second down the inside of the uphill Turn 1 left-hander. Just the four seconds to make up to Marquez now.
Iannone is fading badly after his early-race heroics. Vinales and Rossi are now right on the Suzuki rider's tail.
Stopwatch
An obscene 2m04.605s from Marquez, which is a second quicker than Iannone that time around.
Dovizioso has overtaken former teammate Crutchlow for sixth, and Pedrosa is right there in that battle.
Vinales, having fought off sustained attacks from teammate Rossi, is now closer to Iannone than Iannone is to Marquez. The reigning champion is checking out.
Stopwatch
Has Marquez broken Iannone? He pumps in the first sub2m05s lap of the race - a 2m04.808s - and pulls out a lead of almost a second.
Iannone dives down the inside of Marquez at the Turn 11 hairpin, but Marquez crosses over and reclaims the spot on corner exit.
Iannone is moving metaphorical mountains here to stay in touch with Marquez. His teammate Rins is now back into the top 10, having run wide at Turn 12 earlier.
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Current top 10: 1 Marquez; 2 Iannone; 3 Vinales; 4 Rossi; 5 Zarco; 6 Crutchlow; 7 Dovizioso; 8 Pedrosa; 9 Lorenzo; 10 Smith.
Iannone is pushing hard to stay with Marquez, as Vinales drops back. Rossi has taken fifth from Zarco, and then fourth from Crutchlow.
Marquez takes the lead at Turn 12.
Iannone leads Marquez and Vinales after the opening sector, Crutchlow, Zarco and Rossi following behind.
Lights green
The race is underway! Fantastic start from Iannone to take the lead into Turn 1.
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Some tyre news - it's medium fronts for all in the top 11, but there's a split in rear tyre selections.
Vinales, Zarco, Rossi and Pedrosa will run a medium rear, with Iannone, Marquez, Lorenzo, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Petrucci and Rins picking the hard rear.
Vinales, Zarco, Rossi and Pedrosa will run a medium rear, with Iannone, Marquez, Lorenzo, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Petrucci and Rins picking the hard rear.
The warm-up lap is underway.
The race distance today is 20 laps, which will be difficult for all, but particularly gruelling for Dani Pedrosa - who has been riding through pain all weekend after an Argentina crash required surgery on his right wrist.
Andrea Iannone looks in with a good shot of scoring his first podium with Suzuki today - but would that be enough to keep him in the job past 2018?
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Jack Miller, who starred in Argentina two weeks ago but will be starting only 18th today, is coping with a shoulder injury after a motocross training crash.
"I have been better, struggling a little bit with my right shoulder, had a previous little incident in the week and I didn't come to this weekend 100%.
"Yesterday I just made a big mistake in qualifying, ended up in the gravel one time because of the shake and no brakes. We have our work cut out for us today."
"I have been better, struggling a little bit with my right shoulder, had a previous little incident in the week and I didn't come to this weekend 100%.
"Yesterday I just made a big mistake in qualifying, ended up in the gravel one time because of the shake and no brakes. We have our work cut out for us today."
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The Moto3 race at the track earlier today was won by fourth-year rider Jorge Martin, who now leads the championship over fellow Spaniard Aron Canet.
Future Pramac Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia got it done in Moto2, defeating Alex Marquez, and has likewise assumed the lead in that particular title battle.
Future Pramac Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia got it done in Moto2, defeating Alex Marquez, and has likewise assumed the lead in that particular title battle.
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A look at the top 10 in the points standings: Crutchlow, 38; Dovizioso, 35; Zarco, 28; Vinales, 21; Marquez, 20; Miller, 19; Petrucci, 17; Rossi, 16; Rins, 16; Iannone, 15.
Speaking of Ducati and unusual things, Jorge Lorenzo has just been on his out-lap and his GP18 was shaking out of control on the straight.
Ducati's had a rough time at COTA, and it's taken the riders to some interesting places - hence the rather unusual sight of Andrea Dovizioso running the aero fairing instead of the standard version.
Starting fourth instead of first shouldn't admittedly make all that much of a difference – and lucky too, because Marquez cannot afford more mistakes.
He might be a leading contender week in, week out, but he'd chucked a whole lot of points in the trash in Argentina, so a subsequent slip-up at COTA - an even more favourable track - would be a disaster.
Form guide suggests it's his race to lose, and so does all of the data from this weekend thus far:![Analysis: Is the king of COTA's reign under threat?]()
He might be a leading contender week in, week out, but he'd chucked a whole lot of points in the trash in Argentina, so a subsequent slip-up at COTA - an even more favourable track - would be a disaster.
Form guide suggests it's his race to lose, and so does all of the data from this weekend thus far:
Marc Marquez has won the previous five races here, all from pole, but he's not lining up in first place today despite having gone quickest in qualifying – as he'd been judged to have impeded Maverick Vinales during his pole run. Here's Marquez's take on the incident: 
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Here's how they will be lining up today: 1 Vinales; 2 Iannone; 3 Zarco; 4 Marquez; 5 Rossi; 6 Lorenzo; 7 Crutchlow; 8 Dovizioso; 9 Pedrosa; 10 Petrucci; 11 Rins; 12 Nakagami; 13 Rabat; 14 Smith; 15 P Espargaro; 16 Syahrin; 17 Morbidelli; 18 Miller; 19 A Espargaro; 20 Luthi; 21 Bautista; 22 Redding; 23 Abraham; 24 Simeon.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the third MotoGP race of the 2018 campaign - the sixth-ever Grand Prix of the Americas – set to kick off in under half an hour at Austin's COTA venue.
By: Matt Beer
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