Although his 12th place at the Argentine GP did not live up to his expectations with the KTM, Maverick Viñales remains satisfied with this result, which gives him hope for a clear progression in Austin, where he won last year.
Maverick Vinales spent the Argentine Grand Prix trying out different settings on his KTM to find a better feeling. If it took him too long to adapt to it in the sprint race on Saturday, which earned him an 18th and penultimate place at the finish, he was more competitive in the main race on Sunday.
Starting from 19th position on the grid due to the absence of Miguel Oliveira, he gradually moved up, taking advantage of his rivals' mistakes, between falls and long laps. Also overtaking Somkiat Chantra, Fermín Aldeguer and Jack Miller, he took 13th place with seven laps to go, which turned into 12th place with Ai Ogura's disqualificationThis result allows him to score his first points with the Tech3 team and above all gives him hope of having moved up a gear for the next Grand Prix.
"It was a good Sunday. On Saturday night, thinking about how to improve my feeling, I slightly changed my position on the bike, and it worked because it allowed me to maintain a high speed in the corners and stop the bike. Obviously, the classification is not what I would like, but the pace was not so bad. It was similar to that of the two official KTM riders who have more experience with the RC16, and that's a good sign.", he explained to Motosan.
"Of course the result is frustrating, but if you take into account the process we're in, it's not a waste, we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. So we have to try to move up a gear every weekend, knowing that understanding a bike 100% takes time and that it's not easy. It's still better than knowing that we have a bike in our hands that isn't competitive. But we have to be realistic. We're not at Ducati's level, but we can fight with the other manufacturers, that's why it will be important to progress regularly."
MotoGP will now head to Texas, where the GP of the Americas will be held in 15 days. Maverick Vinales won on the Austin circuit with the Aprilia last year, which makes it very special in his eyes: "This could be the decisive track. Last year I was very strong. I'm going to try to give the best of myself."
Results of the Argentine Grand Prix :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
