5th in the sprint race on Saturday and 6th in the Sunday race, Maverick Vinales had a pretty good weekend. In qualifying, he even managed to set a second time, just behind Francesco Bagnaia. For several seasons, Maverick Vinales has felt more efficient. He has a string of good results and manages to get on the podium a few times. Last April, he won the Grand Prix of the Americas. With this victory, he became the one and only rider to win with three different brands in the modern era of MotoGP. On the championship side, it occupies fifth place with 118 units.
On the Assen track, the native of Figueras got off to a good start and quickly found himself in the group of leaders. In battle for third place between Marc Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, the Spaniard had no difficulty keeping up with his competitors. But in the last part of the race, Maverick Vinales felt strange sensations on his mount. Several vibrations bothered him, making his driving complicated on the hilly circuit in the Netherlands.
Maverick Vinales’ statement
According to the Spaniard, the Aprilia has lost its stability capabilities. His machine does not respond as he would like, it is less agile and loses time on the Ducatis.
“Actually, I had difficulties the whole race. I don’t know if it was because the wind changed direction, but every time, in the change of direction between [les virages] 13 and 14, I had a big jolt on the bike and I lost a lot of time in that corner. It seems that this weekend, the change of direction, which is the strength of our bike, was the weak point against our competitors, but we are happy. We are not satisfied because we want to fight in front, but we are happy with the level because we were the only ones threatening the Ducati. I saw that Pedro [Acosta] was also pretty close, with a different tire. Honestly, I gave my all from the first round.”
“The whole race, the whole weekend, I suffered from this. I think it was quite common for all the Aprilias. It’s probably related to the aerodynamics, but it was hard in the changes of direction, really hard. We did the maximum. I think it was the maximum of the bike. I tried to ride well, I was even faster than I think the bike is capable of, but there are still people in front. We have to keep working, keep taking the next step, but it seems very complicated. Honestly, it’s difficult, because it’s very hard to compare such different bikes. I have some strengths, they have others, so I can’t really say where they are stronger.”
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In short
Well on his way to scoring big points at Assen, Maverick Vinales felt in difficulty riding his Aprilia. For several races, the behavior of his bike has changed. He was faced with several technical problems at the end of the race.
