Maverick Vinales became the first rider to win a Grand Prix for three different manufacturers. The Aprilia racer had won races for Suzuki and Yamaha. What was even more astonishing was his tenacity to win the Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas after a poor start that relegated him to 11th place. Pedro Acosta from Tech 3 put on an incredible performance, finishing second ahead of Ducati’s Enea Bastianini.
2024 MotoGP Americas: Top Gun effort by Maverick
Vinales was the clear favourite to win the COTA Grand Prix after a flawless qualifying and Sprint session. The MotoGP gods threw a curve bowl at the 29-year-old, pushing him down from pole position to 11th on Turn 1 when the Spaniard was forced to go wide. Vinales had demonstrated lightning speed this weekend, and on race day, he continued his recovery trail at breakneck speed. On Lap 4, he easily passed Alex Marquez and was seventh.
Things were heating up as Vinales passed Francesco Bagnaia for fourth place two laps later. The Aprilia man was now in the thick of the action. Vinales overtook the current championship leader, Jorge Martin, on lap 11. Even after some fantastic rodeo motorcycling and an epic battle between Acosta and Vinales, the Aprilia man was unstoppable as he passed the Tech 3 rookie on lap 13. To rub everyone’s noses and stamp his authority, Top Gun set the fastest lap time in the race on the following lap. Call it talent, a never-say-die attitude, or just written in the stars, the day and weekend belonged to only one person: Maverick Vinales.
2024 MotoGP Americas: Chaos and Opportunity
How many times have we heard the phrase “One man’s loss is another man’s gain”? That is how one could summarise Marc Marquez’s race. After Vinales dropped to 11th place, Marquez and Bagnaia attempted to capitalise on the chaos while Acosta and Martin advanced. The Pramac rider gained ground and claimed the lead from Acosta. With the top four riders in a close battle, Lap 8 saw a crash, forcing Takaaki Nakagami, Franco Morbidelli, and Johann Zarco to retire.
The tide swung again on Lap 9, as both Acosta and Marquez passed race leader Martin, and the six-time world champion quickly overhauled the Tech 3 rider. Marquez had never led a race as a Gresini rider before. Unfortunately, the Spaniard crashed in Turn 11 owing to a front brake failure.
With Acosta dominating the race, Turn 11 changed the course of the Grand Prix once more, as Vinales claimed P1 from the rookie, and the rest is history. Acosta finished second, becoming the youngest rider in MotoGP history to win consecutive podiums. It was a battle of the Ducatis for third place, but Bastianini won, finishing ahead of Martin and Bagnaia. Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 finished sixth, beating Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, and KTM’s Brand Binder. Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez rounded out the top 10.
| MotoGP Americas Race | ||
| Position | Rider | Team |
| 1 | Maverick Vinales | Aprilia |
| 2 | Pedro Acosta | Tech3 |
| 3 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati |
| 4 | Jorge Martin | Parmac |
| 5 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati |
| 6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | VR46 |
| 7 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprila |
| 8 | Marco Bezzecchi | VR46 |
| 9 | Brad Binder | KTM |
| 10 | Raul Fernandez | Trackhouse |
