Maverick Vinales will start the 2024 Grand Prix of The Americas from pole position after blowing his MotoGP rivals away in qualifying at Circuit of The Americas, while Pedro Acosta notched up another career milestone on the front row.

Fresh from his first race-winning performance as an Aprilia Racing rider, achieved last time out during the Portuguese MotoGP Sprint Race, Vinales was in scintillating form throughout Q2.

Holding the top spot throughout, Vinales initially set the pace with a lap record-breaking 2m 01.243s lap straight out of the box, only to slash another four tenths from that marker with a 2m 00.864secs effort.

It makes him the first and only rider to break into the 2m 00s bracket, a cause that was perhaps helped along by a torrid Q2 session for championship leader Jorge Martin, who crashed twice in 15mins.

Beginning with a low-speed off at Turn 11 early on, Martin subsequently remounted and chose to try for another time attack without pitting, only to lose the rear of his Pramac Ducati on the exit of the fast Turn 18 right-hander towards the end of the lap. 

With his Ducati GP24 skimming right down to Turn 19, Martin returned to track aboard his spare machine but could only manage a time good enough for sixth.

Sensational Pedro Acosta keeps up the good work

His issues therefore helped pave the way for Acosta to extend what has been a dream start to his MotoGP career as he scored a front row start for what will be only his third event in the premier class.

The Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing Tech3 rider was one of the few to improve on their second runs, the Spaniard slotting in ahead of Marc Marquez, who had the honour of leading a Q2 session in which all eight Ducati riders were present.

His time kept his factory Ducati counterparts off the front row, Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia instead having to contend with fourth and fifth on a second row they will share with Martin.

While Vinales stole the spotlight in pole, his Aprilia Racing team-mate Aleix Espargaro made do with seventh after his session concluded early with an off at the change of direction coming down from Turn 1 and into Turn 2. 

Nevertheless, he held onto seventh, ahead of Fabio di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli, while Marco Bezzecchi was another to take an early finish after hitting the deck late on, this time at Turn 1. Q1 qualifiers Jack Miller and Alex Marquez finished up Q2 in 11th and 12th for KTM and Gresini Ducati respectively.

With Miller and Marquez the riders to make it count in Q1, it was left to the rest to fill the remaining positions from 13th to 22nd.

Among those to miss out on the pole-deciding session was home hope Trackhouse Racing, whose pairing Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira wound up two and three tenths adrift of progressing in 13th and 14th respectively.

Behind the Aprilia duo came both factory Yamahas, Alex Rins getting the better of Fabio Quartararo. A disappointing outcome for each, 2023 Grand Prix of The Americas race winner Rins will get away from 15th, Quartararo in 16th concluded his session with a slip off at Turn 1 in the final seconds.

In 17th, Brad Binder provided the biggest upset after following up a difficult Friday with an even trickier start to Saturday’s track action. Already on the back foot after missing the cut for Q2, the KTM Factory Racing rider fell early on at Turn 11 and despite remounting and pitting for minor repairs, couldn’t find his rhythm in his final time attack.

Elsewhere, Honda - whose LCR satellite team took a shock win at COTA last year - continued its miserable American endeavour with each of its riders bringing up the rear with Johann Zarco 19th, Joan Mir 20th, Luca Marini 21st and Takaaki Nakagami 22nd.

🇺🇸 ⏱️ 2024 Grand Prix of The Americas MotoGP, COTA | Qualifying Results

Saturday | Conditions - Dry, Sunny