Maverick Vinales is truly playing Batman in the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas. The Portimao weekend ended unluckily, with a broken gearbox on the last lap which denied him the joy of a podium, but in the Algarve the Aprilia rider seems to have made a click which he took with him to Austin .
Already yesterday he had made it clear that he had a great feeling with his RS-GP on the Texan ups and downs, but today in qualifying he achieved a real feat, becoming the first, and so far the only, capable of going under the wall of 2'01″ on the Circuit of the Americas. His 2'00″864 is an extraordinary time and this is demonstrated not only by the record, but also by the gap he placed on the competition.
The first of the pursuers, in fact, closed at 328 thousandths of a second. But even in this case we can only congratulate the rider who signed this 2'01″192, because it is Pedro Acosta. In his third race in the premier class, the reigning Moto2 world champion went to place his GasGas Tech3 on the front row for the first time. After the podium in Portimao, therefore, the “Shark of Mazarron” seems ready to fight for something important.
Also because among those he put behind him there is also the one to whom we have given the star of “Austin Ranger” many times, namely Marc Marquez. The eight-time world champion has won seven times on this track, considered the ideal testing ground to understand how his adaptation to the Ducati is progressing. And for now it doesn't seem like he's doing badly, given that his Gresini Racing GP23 will be the best Desmosedici on the grid, even if the gap to Vinales is more than four tenths.
Not bad for Marc, who placed himself behind a compact trio of GP24s led by world champion Pecco Bagnaia (never on the front row in the first three races this season), who preceded his teammate Enea Bastianini and world champion Jorge Martin , who experienced a qualification that was decidedly more troubled than expected.
Just think that in the first time attack the Prima Pramac Racing rider crashed twice: after slipping at turn 11, he immediately got back on the bike and on the following lap he lost the rear at turn 18. Having returned to the pits visibly nervous, he did his best in the second attempt using his second GP24, but in the end he closed at 647 thousandths.
His close friend Aleix Espargaro also ended up on the ground, losing the front of his Aprilia at turn 2 and ultimately having to settle for seventh place. Among other things, it should be underlined that the Granollers rider decided to take the path of Vinales, given that he eliminated the tail with the F1-style diffuser from both of his RS-GPs which he had instead used in the first outings.
Sharing the third row with him will be two other Ducatis: the one designed by Fabio Di Giannantonio's Pertamina Enduro VR46 and the one with the colors of Prima Pramac Racing entrusted to Franco Morbidelli. For the latter, however, the progress in the growth of the feeling with the GP24 seems evident after being forced to miss the pre-season due to injury.
Qualifying was also complicated for Marco Bezzecchi, who did not complete the second time attack due to a crash at turn 1 with his Ducati and placed tenth. The Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider will have Jack Miller and Alex Marquez alongside him, who are the two who gained the pass from Q2 in Q1. It should be underlined that with the entry of the Gresini Racing standard bearer, all the Ducatis are in the first four rows of the grid.
The first ones excluded from the Q2 party were the two drivers of Trackhouse Racing. Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira will line up their Aprilias in 13th and 14th position, with the Spaniard left out by 173 thousandths. And perhaps in the home race the American owners would have hoped for a little more.
It was therefore a disastrous qualifying for the Japanese manufacturers, because you had to go all the way down to 15th position to find Alex Rins' Yamaha. The Spaniard was mired in the M1's problems even on a track where last year he managed the real miracle of leading Honda to victory.
If nothing else, he took away the satisfaction of getting behind his teammate Fabio Quartararo, who follows him in 16th position and also crashed at the end at turn 1 in an attempt to improve. Just as a fall at turn 11 cost Brad Binder dearly, because the KTM rider, currently second in the world championship standings, will start the two Texan races from the 17th spot on the grid.
However, no one did worse than the Hondas, because the RC213Vs complete the grid in the last four positions, also behind Augusto Fernandez's GasGas Tech3. The “Honda Cup” was won by Johann Zarco, who preceded Joan Mir, Takaaki Nakagami and Luca Marini, who once again finds himself last.
A heavy result for the golden wing brand, especially if you look at the recent past because, as mentioned, last year Rins had led it to success on a track that had historically been friends with Marquez (8 successes in 10 races) . The bike, therefore, seems to have even taken a step backwards instead of the desired forward one.
Q2 ranking
Q1 ranking
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