The Spaniard blitzed the existing lap record at the Circuit of the Americas to score his first pole of the year, which he then converted to a dominant sprint victory.

Vinales grabbed the holeshot off the line and beat the field by 2.294 seconds to claim back-to-back sprint victories in 2024.

While pleased with his sprint win, Vinales felt his qualifying was more enjoyable but ‘doesn’t know’ how he set his record 2m00.864s lap.

“Just enjoying this moment, that is amazing,” Vinales said.

“For me, more than the sprint I enjoyed more the qualifying…. I don’t know how I did this lap.

“I just make something magic with the bike today and that’s impressive.

“I’m very happy, obviously I’m convinced we can do an amazing job this year, not only here but during all the year. I feel better than ever, obviously.”

Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

This is the first time Vinales has won back-to-back races in his MotoGP career since the earliest days of his tenure with Yamaha, when he scored victories in Qatar and Argentina in 2017.

Asked by Motorsport.com if his current Aprilia form feels similar, Vinales said: “No, now I’m in a totally different level.

“I wish I was feeling like now some years ago because I have the experience and physically, I feel so strong.

“This is the year I feel stronger physically speaking, I work a lot for it.

“I just feel that experience, strength, and the technique I have on the bike is matching together to do these results.

“That’s fantastic. Every time it repeats, that phrase in my head, ‘never give up’ because hard work pays off and it’s paying off. I’m extremely happy. Obviously, I’m doing a lot of effort and my family is doing a lot of effort.”

Vinales says he is able to ride the RS-GP “naturally” now, but in the pre-season didn’t feel confident on the 2024 Aprilia.

Acknowledging this, Vinales says a change in the weight distribution of the bike from the Portuguese GP has unlocked his form on the 2024 RS-GP.

“I said in the earliest laps in the test I was not feeling comfortable on the bike,” he explained.

“I had a very strange crash in Malaysia in the last corner. So, I had no confidence with the new bike, but we worked with the settings, worked with the balance and step by step I was feeling better.

“But in Qatar it was not enough, I was not riding it at the maximum.

“So basically we changed a little bit the weight distribution on the bike in Portimao and it changed like this — from here to here.

“So, basically now I have the same feeling as last year but with a bike that is a little bit better because of the aerodynamics.”

Watch: What we learned on Friday | 2024 #AmericasGP

In a dramatic Q2 session, Vinales dominated on his factory Aprilia with the first ever sub-2m01s lap of the Circuit of the Americas to score his first pole since Valencia last year with a 2m00.864s.

Vinales set the initial pace in the first half of the 15-minute Q2 session, doing so as pole favourite Martin suffered two falls.

Martin could do no more than sixth on his Pramac Ducati, while Tech3 rookie sensation Pedro Acosta qualified on the front row for the first time in his MotoGP career in second.

Marc Marquez, chasing an eighth MotoGP victory at COTA, will start third on his Gresini Ducati.

Vinales posted a new lap record of 2m01.243s on his first flying lap in Q2 to set out his stall early, though Marquez shadowed him by 0.023s.

Martin was on a quick first lap when he slid off his Ducati at the Turn 11 hairpin, but quickly remounted and elected to go for a second flying effort.

Fastest through the first sector, the lap grew messier for the Spaniard and ended when the rear end of his bike came round on him going through the fast Turn 18 right-hander.

Martin was able to get back to his Pramac garage for his second bike, but didn’t have the speed to threaten for pole.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

With just under two minutes to go, Vinales fired in a 2m00.864s to cement pole position by 0.328s.

Starting alongside him for this afternoon’s sprint and Sunday’s grand prix is Acosta, who produced a 2m01.192s lap at the end of Q2 to secure his first front row start in MotoGP.

He beat Marc Marquez by 0.074s, with the Gresini rider securing his first front row on the Ducati ahead of reigning double world champion Francesco Bagnaia.

The factory Ducati rider missed the front row by 0.086s and headed team-mate Enea Bastianini, with Martin trailing in sixth.

A crash late on in Q2 left Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro down in seventh ahead of VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio and Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.

Marco Bezzecchi was 10th after a crash at Turn 1 on the sister VR46 Ducati, with KTM’s Jack Miller and Gresini’s Alex Marquez completing the top 12 after coming through Q1.

Trackhouse Racing duo Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira start 13th and 14th for the team’s first home race, with 2023 Americas GP winner Alex Rins the top Yamaha in 15th.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

He beat team-mate Fabio Quartararo after the Frenchman crashed at Turn 1 at the start of his final flying lap, while an early tumble for KTM’s Brad Binder led to a difficult Q1 for the South African.

He will start 17th, while LCR’s Johann Zarco headed the Honda charge in 19th as all four RC213Vs locked out the back of the grid.

MotoGP Americas GP Qualifying Results

Vinales comes into this weekend’s third round of the season in strong form, having scored a breakthrough first win on the Aprilia in the sprint race in Portugal three weeks ago.

He was on course for a podium in the grand prix in Portugal before a gearbox issue caused him to crash out on the final lap.

Vinales ended Friday’s running at the Circuit of the Americas second fastest and as the only rider able to threaten Jorge Martin’s record-smashing lap.

During Friday’s session his Aprilia was spotted with a switch on his handlebars that he revealed was a switch to alternate the right lever between engaging the front brake and using it for the clutch.

Asked about it, Vinales said: “It’s the brake. I use the same lever for brake and clutch, so it’s just a switch [on the handlebars].

“I have to switch [between them manually].

“One switch is brake, another switch is clutch.

Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Listen, I have to be very careful. Imagine if I got to the starting grid with the rear brake [switched on].

“I will stall the bike. So, I have to be very careful. But it’s ok, I put some rules in my head when I go out.”

Confident about Aprilia’s form coming into this weekend, Vinales believes he is in the best moments of his stint with the Italian manufacturer.

“Yes, of course,” he said when asked if he thought he was in his strongest moment as an Aprilia rider.

“Since last year in Qatar when we really identified what we are missing, we have been very strong, always in the front.

“So, I feel it’s a good moment, we need to carry on.

“But that’s how you build the confidence. I feel much stronger than in the previous race and can’t wait to go into the garage and see what the guys are seeing.

“It will be a big work tonight because the tyres are too good, to be honest. The medium and soft are really good, we don’t know what to choose for the race.”

The eight-time world champion has won at COTA seven times since making his MotoGP debut in 2013, marking it as one of his most successful tracks in his career.

But all of those wins came on the Honda and Marquez has moved to downplay expectations that he can add an eighth to his tally this weekend on the Gresini Ducati.

Finishing Friday practice third overall, Marquez admits he is having to alter his approach to Texas venue in the way he would normally find lap time on the Honda “more” than at any circuit he has ridden on the Ducati so far.

“More,” he said when asked if he is having to change anything for such a unique track as COTA.

“I mean, yes, here when one bike is not completely fantastic in all the points and the other is not completely fantastic… it’s impossible to have the perfect bike and it’s impossible to have a bike that is working on all the points.

“The Honda was super good on those stop-and-go corners.

“But the thing is that with the Ducati you need to ride in a different way and find the time in another way in those corners.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“So, it’s there where I was more concentrated this afternoon, trying to understand that point and I started to understand and since that point the lap times were coming better and better.”

Despite this, Marquez says his Honda instincts are starting to fade with each new track he faces on the Ducati.

“I mean, step by step that instinct is going,” he noted.

“Of course, everybody has his riding style, but now step by step I already arrived at the track and I arrive as a Ducati [rider].

“But it’s true that FP1 is always the more difficult one because you have the memories of many years riding in one way and riding in one line.

“But as soon as you understand that you do that line and you are slow, you then need to change and to adapt.

“So, it’s what I did this afternoon and this plus how the team helped me with the bike, this was the big thing.”

While he finished Friday’s running strongly, Marquez says he was happiest with the way his Gresini team reacted to his set-up troubles in the opening practice.

“Happy with the reaction,” he added. “Why? Because we started the day with a not so good feeling, the feeling was better even in Portimao than here.

“But we reacted in a good way for this afternoon, and this afternoon I started to feel the bike better, I started to feel more constant – especially on that second run.

“And since that point, looks like now we can start to work on small details. But, as I expected – not the people maybe – there are two, three riders faster than me.”