Late crash limits Mir and Repsol Honda Team in Austin
The Repsol Honda Team pairing made steps forward on Friday, but Mir and Marini were left wanting more with Saturday gains the target.
Both Joan Mir and Luca Marini were eager to get to work and sample the new resurfaced COTA track as practice began on Friday morning. A session without major incident, the pair laid the foundations for their weekends with Marini taking 15th and Mir finishing just behind in 16th.
Improving from a 2’04.435 in the morning to a 2’03.444 in the afternoon saw Mir take a step forward, finding a second. There was even more time to be found for the #36, but an unfortunate crash at Turn 15 on his final flying lap of the day limited his overall potential. The 2020 MotoGP World Champion was unharmed in the fall. As in the previous two races, Mir is more confident in his potential race pace for the Sprint and the Grand Prix.
Luca Marini returned to happy hunting grounds in Austin and started the day as the fastest Honda rider. Like his teammate, the Italian made a step between sessions to drop his best time to a 2’03.521. Although the improvements were significant, Marini was left frustrated with his final position.
Both riders will head to Q1 on Saturday morning to decide their grid position for the Sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix of the Americas. The Sprint will run over 10 laps, starting at 15:00 Local Time on Saturday, April 13.
Joan Mir
“Today followed a similar pattern to what we saw in Portimao, unfortunately. There are some areas we need to work on but it will take some time I think. It’s important that we know what we need to do. The good point is that I think on race pace we can be stronger, my overall position today isn’t fully accurate because of the crash. It was just a small one and I am OK.”
Luca Marini
“When we put in the soft rear tyre we are not able to take the maximum benefit from it so it is important that we work to improve this in the future. We have some work to do tonight with the team because the gap is big. With the medium tyre we are closer to everyone. It’s just the third race so we are still early in the project, I know we will keep improving.”
Friday Practice - Grand Prix of the Americas
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 02'01.397 |
| 2 | Vinales Maverick | 12 | SPA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 0.076 |
| 3 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 0.409 |
| 4 | Bagnaia Francesco | 1 | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 0.411 |
| 5 | Acosta Pedro | 31 | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 | KTM | 0.569 |
| 6 | Espargaro Aleix | 41 | SPA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 0.627 |
| 7 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 0.706 |
| 8 | Bastianini Enea | 23 | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 0.747 |
| 9 | Di Giannantonio Fabio | 49 | ITA | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 0.847 |
| 10 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 0.961 |
| 11 | Oliveira Miguel | 88 | POR | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 1.069 |
| 12 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 1.079 |
| 13 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 1.096 |
| 14 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1.154 |
| 15 | Fernandez Augusto | 37 | SPA | Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 | KTM | 1.156 |
| 16 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1.405 |
| 17 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1.442 |
| 18 | Rins Alex | 42 | SPA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1.478 |
| 19 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | LCR Honda | Honda | 1.617 |
| 20 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 2.047 |
| 21 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 2.124 |
| 22 | Nakagami Takaaki | 30 | JPN | LCR Honda | Honda | 2.587 |
Location Information
The Circuit Of The Americas is the first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the U.S. near Austin, Texas, with a 5.513km track and a capacity for 120,000 fans. Construction of the impressive 1000-acre facility was completed late in 2012, with MotoGP lining up at the track for the first time… read more.
| Length | 5.513 kilometres / 3.426 miles |
| Width | 15 metres |
| Left corners | 11 |
| Right corners | 9 |
| Longest straight | 1.2 kilometres / 0.746 miles |
| Constructed | 2012 |
| Modified | 2018 (track repairs to the surface to smooth down bumps) |
9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd Austin, TX 78617 - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 2m 00.864s (164.2 km/h) Maverick Viñales (Aprilia, 2024) |
| Race Lap | 2m 02.575s (161.9 km/h) Maverick Viñales (Aprilia, 2024) |
| Race Time | 41m 09.503s (160.7 km/h) Maverick Viñales (Aprilia, 2024) |
| 2024 Sprint Winner | Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) |
| 2024 Race Winner | Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) |
