The Saturday showdown started at the Circuit of the Americas with a pole position for Maverick Viñales (Aprilia). After a morning free practice session, the premier class riders faced a short but intense qualifying session , where Pedro Acosta (GasGas) and Marc Márquez (Ducati) managed to take spots on the front row for the Grand Prix of the Americas.
After making the cut for Q2 on Friday, those who rounded off the Top 10 of the qualifying round were: Pecco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, Jorge Martín, Aleix Espargaró, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi.
The second sprint race in the history of the American circuit will take place on Saturday at 15:00 local time.
Tough qualifying for Repsol Honda Team
In FP2, the objective for Joan Mir and Luca Marini was to fine-tune the setup of their RC213Vs for the qualifying session at the Texas track. The Spaniard was 19th in the morning session and his teammate was 21st.
Neither managed to improve their times to advance to Q2 and enter the fight for pole. Mir will start from 20th place, while Marini will be 22nd, as the pair try to fight back in the sprint race and in Sunday’s main race.
Americas GP Qualifying Results
RIDER | TEAM | TIME |
1. Maverick Viñales | APRILIA | 2:00.864 |
2. Pedro Acosta | GASGAS | +0.328 |
3. Marc Márquez | DUCATI | +0.402 |
4. Pecco Bagnaia | DUCATI | +0.488 |
5. Enea Bastianini | DUCATI | +0.575 |
6. Jorge Martín | DUCATI | +0.647 |
7. Aleix Espargaró | APRILIA | +0.698 |
8. Fabio Di Giannantonio | DUCATI | +0.803 |
9. Franco Morbidelli | DUCATI | +0.873 |
10. Marco Bezzecchi | DUCATI | +1.415 |
20. Joan Mir | REPSOL HONDA | +1.288* |
22. Luca Marini | REPSOL HONDA | +1.391* |