Maverick Vinales wins the Americas MotoGP sprint, Francesco Bagnaia eighth

Making the perfect start, Maverick Vinales led from Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta.

However, it was a dreadful start for the reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia who dropped from fourth to tenth.

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Out of the race before completing lap one, Fabio Di Giannantonio had to retire after his Ducati caught fire following contact with Alex Marquez at the start.

At the front, Vinales was continuing to lead as Acosta began lining up a move on Marquez for second.

Also out of the sprint was Augusto Fernandez as the GASGAS Tech 3 KTM rider crashed on lap one.

Lap three was a neck breaker for the chasing pack as Vinales went seven tenths quicker than Marquez and Acosta.

Vinales then continued to open up his lead on lap four as Jorge Martin, who overtook Enea Bastianini for P4, began closing in on his fellow Spanish pair ahead.

On lpa five Marquez made a mistake in sector one which gave Vinales another huge amount of time.

Pressure mounted on Marquez from behind while the battle for fifth saw Aleix Espargaro momentarily come through on Bastianini, before the Ducati rider regained the position.

After a failed overtake on Marquez, Acosta was bumped down to third by Martin who pushed the rookie wide in the process.

Vinales, who was seemingly in a league of his own, then lost a considerable amount of time to Marquez who was now the fastest rider on circuit [lap six]. But Vinales steadied the ship on lap eight and stopped losing time to Marquez.

Bagnaia finally moved into the points with a move on Franco Morbidelli for ninth, but the factory Ducati rider struggled to make further progress.

Bagnaia secured another spot before the checkered flag dropped, thanks to a move on Raul Fernandez at turn ten.