Celestino Vietti led the first qualifying of the Moto2 GP of the Americas in Austin. As a result, he secured a spot in the pole position battle, along with three other riders who joined the 14 already qualified through the practice sessions.
After the first flying laps, Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex) led the pack, with Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team/Kalex) in second. Also in qualifying positions were Albert Arenas (QJMotor Gresini/Kalex) and Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP/Kalex).
On the second attempt, Vietti extended his lead. Moreira and Arenas didn’t improve but kept their positions, while Jaume Masiá (Pertamina Mandalika GAS UP Team/Kalex) climbed to fourth, swapping places with Agius. There were seven minutes left on the clock at that point.
With less than three minutes remaining, Masiá moved up to second, and Arenas to third, but the top four remained unchanged. A yellow flag caused by Darryn Binder’s crash (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP/Kalex) affected the last laps for some riders.
Nobody dethroned Vietti from the top of the timesheets, with the Italian being 0.477s faster than Masiá. Arenas finished third, and Moreira fourth. Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia/Kalex) ended up in fifth, missing out on Q2 by just nine thousandths of a second.
Results: