Maverick Vinales continued his good form from Portimao to top the timesheet for Aprilia during the opening MotoGP practice session at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
With consistent fastest lap times throughout most of the session, no one could get close to the Spaniard’s last sector which made all the difference for the final standings as he posted a strong lap time of 2.03.294s.
Championship leader Jorge Martin followed to finish in second place, with Pedro Acosta rounding off the top three in what was yet another strong showing from the rookie.
In the closing stages, Enea Bastianini put in his fastest lap when it mattered to finish fourth, as he hopes to replicate his 2022 success on the track which saw him victorious.
The VR46 Ducati lineup of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio had a more than respectable outing as they finished in fifth and 10th respectively, with both riders looking for a strong result to kick start their 2024 campaigns.
Despite both factory KTM riders being placed third and fourth throughout the first half of the session, Brad Binder and Jack Miller locked in sixth and ninth and look to be competitive once again on track.
Franco Morbidelli put in a strong showing at the end of the session to place himself in seventh, finishing 0.610s adrift of Vinales’ Aprilia. A performance that will provide him some much-needed confidence having missed the winter testing period through injury.
Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez finished eighth, but his brother Alex Marquez crashed mid-way through the session and in the end could only manage a 20th-place finish aboard the Gresini GP23 machine.
The surprise of the practice session involves reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia as he finished 0.016s outside the top 10, meaning he will need to step up in subsequent practice sessions to ensure he makes it straight through to Q2 in Qualifying.
Yamaha duo Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo’s woes continued with both finishing a second adrift of the front runners, but the intra-team battle was close and the duo were only separated by 0.006s.
Trackhouse Aprilia riders Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira were hoping to put in a better performance than 12th and 17th in front of the team’s home crowd, where progress was made which saw both riders finish ahead of Aleix Espargaro who struggled to a 19th-placed finish.
The factory Honda outfit saw both riders finish 15th and 16th, but the performances were only 0.2s off the top ten which showed promising signs for Luca Marini and Joan Mir.
Unable to match his rookie team-mate, Augusto Fernandez could only muster the 19th best time aboard the Tech3 GASGAS machine.
The LCR Honda outfit struggled by finishing half a second off the pace of the rest of the pack as Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami occupied the last two positions.
