RiderTua.com – Jorge Martin made a surprise appearance by setting a new COTA lap record on the first day of practice at the 2024 Americas GP. The Pramac Ducati rider was 0.6 seconds ahead after installing new tires in the closing stages of the afternoon on one of the most demanding tracks physically on the MotoGP calendar.
But then Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) managed to cut Martin’s lead to just 0.076 seconds, but Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) who was in 3rd place was 0.409 seconds adrift of Martin.
Jorge Martin Didn’t Expect to Be So Fast
Jorge Martin explained, “I feel fine. What’s certain is that today I didn’t expect to be this fast because usually this is a track that is difficult for me to race on. I performed very smoothly and tried to control my physical condition, because I wanted to maintain my energy for Sunday’s race . So I didn’t try 100 percent. But when I did, I did some great laps.”
The 26 year old rider added that he was very happy. Tomorrow (Saturday) will be a challenging day, the other riders are moving very fast and will improve. So he will also try to improve it.
Martin’s closest rival is KTM spearhead Brad Binder who failed to enter the top 10 and had to pass qualifying 1. On the other hand, his teammate Franco Morbidelli finished Friday’s America’s GP in 7th position where the Italian rider continues to catch up after missing the pre-season test. due to injury.
