-Vinales dominates
-COTA expert Marc Marquez finishes second
-Jorge Martin claws his way up to third
The Sprint Race of the 2024 MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas was action packed and Aprilia Factory Racing’s Maverick Vinales showed his class during the 10 lap race.
A dominant victory
Maverick Vinales seems to have found a great rhythm with the Aprilia RSGP24 machine. He was quite quick at the Portuguese GP a couple of weeks ago and it was the same at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas. The Spaniard got off to a superb start from Pole position as the lights went out and led the race from then on.
Gresini Racing’s Marc Marquez and GasGas Tech 3 Racing’s Pedro Acosta were in hot pursuit of Vinales but could never get to the point of challenging him for the lead. In fact, around the half race distance, Vinales began to put a sizable gap between himself and the pursuing duo. The Aprilia was particularly quick in the first sector, through the quick direction change corners. This allowed Vinales to stay comfortably ahead and he crossed the finish line in first, much to the delight of his Factory Aprilia Racing Team.
Jorge Martin’s resurgence
2024 MotoGP World Championship leader Jorge Martin had a poor start to the weekend after crashing out twice, blowing his chances of securing pole position. During the Sprint Race, The Prima Pramac Racing rider was a fair distance from the top three but after Lap 4, he began upping the pace and managed to pass Pedro Acosta later on to snatch P3 from him. Martin would be looking to further extend his Championship lead, more so because the Factory Ducatis are struggling to keep pace at COTA.
2023 Champion Pecco Bagnaia had a miserable start to the Sprint GP, his bike wheeling off the line and causing him to slip down the order by the time he made it to Turn One. The Italian tried to make the most of the situation but his pace wasn’t good enough and he finished eighth. Pace issues were the case with his team mate Enea Bastianini as well and it looked like the Factory Ducati’s were struggling to maintain the rapid speed of the front running bikes. The team will undoubtedly assess the situation and are likely to make a comeback in today’s main race.
Maverick Vinales will be looking to make it a double victory this weekend by winning the main race. However, he is likely to not have it this easy as Marc Marquez looks strong and COTA has always been one of his favourite racetracks. Pedro Acosta would also be looking to finish on the podium after missing out and crossing the finish line in P4 at the end of the Sprint Race.
