Maverick Vinales fastest in the opening practice for Americas MotoGP

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales edged Pramac’s Jorge Martin to secure the fastest time in the opening 45-minute practice session for the Grand Prix of the Americas MotoGP.

Maverick Vinales topped the timesheets in the first free practice for the Grand Prix of The Americas MotoGP as the Aprilia rider extended his success from Portugal by dominating right from the start at the Circuit of The Americas.

The Spaniard’s last sector proved to be crucial for the session’s final rankings, as he recorded an impressive time of 2.03.294 seconds, while no one else had a chance to get within his constant fastest lap times over the course of the practice.

Second place went to championship leader Jorge Martin as the Prima Pramac Ducati rider comes to the United States with a healthy 18-point lead over his rivals at the top of the standings. Pedro Acosta, who put on yet another spectacular performance rounded out the top three.

As it turned out, the weekend got off to a good start for the majority of well performing riders in Portugal. Enea Bastianini, who finished second to Martin in the full-length grand prix, was also fast, finishing fourth on the factory Ducati, ahead of stablemate Marco Bezzecchi on the Pertamina Enduro VR46 bike.

Along with Acosta, Brad Binder and Jack Miller were among the three KTM riders who finished in the top ten as Binder finished sixth, while Miller who dominated the timesheets until the final moments, placed ninth.

Prima Pramac Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli, riding split the duo in seventh place, while seven-time MotoGP race winner at COTA Marc Marquez held onto eighth place on the sister Gresini entry. Completing the top ten was Fabio di Giannantonio, who made it six Ducatis in the top half.

Reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia surprised everyone by finishing 0.016 seconds outside the top 10, meaning he will need to improve in practice sessions going forward to guarantee his advance to Qualifying’s second round.

Yamaha’s problems still lingered as Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo finished one second behind the leaders as the duo was barely separated by 0.006 seconds.

Both Trackhouse Aprilia riders Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira finished ahead of Aleix Espargaro, who struggled to a 19th-place finish. The riders were expecting a stronger showing than 12th and 17th in front of the squad’s home audience.

Both of the factory Honda riders finished in 15th and 16th place, but their results were only 0.2s away from the top 10, which boded well for Luca Marini and Joan Mir. Meanwhile, Augusto Fernandez could only manage the 18th best time on the Tech3 GASGAS machine, falling short of his rookie teammate.

Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami finished the race in the last two spots, with the LCR Honda team struggling to finish half a second behind the rest of the pack.

2024 Grand Prix of The Americas MotoGP Free Practice 1 Results