For the first time this year, the two official Yamaha riders Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi will start from the first row of the starting grid. Their goal will be to get ahead of Marc Marquez, already a four-time winner in Texas, and this Saturday in his fifth position on the Circuit of The Americas.
During the second qualifying session, Vinales set a very good time at the start of the session in 2'03.912, which placed him in second position on the provisional starting grid. He then ran a time of 2'03.125, which brought him 0.083 closer to first place.
In a final effort, Maverick grabbed the best performance in 2'02.871, but his happiness was short-lived as he was pushed back to second place by Marc Marquez, a gap of 0.130 separating the two men.
To Maverick Vinales, who are " Honestly, I thought I had pole. When I looked at the screen and saw that Marc was behind Valentino, I said to myself: “ah, maybe this will do it” and finally, he did it. Congratulations to him, because it was undoubtedly a good time.
“We gave 100% and the bike worked very well. We had to insist on one lap, but I'm also happy with our pace. We can still progress on Sunday.
“We will work hard tonight to find a new setting that will allow us to brake the bike better. Still, I think we've done a good job and we can be there. Being at the maximum from the first to the last round will be the best strategy.
“There were many drivers on track. I'm not mad about what happened today. When you're having a good lap, it's normal to behave like this. There is no resentment between Valentino and me. It happens and I'm not complaining. »
