Maverick Viñales almost became one of the heroes of the Misano race. Finishing just seven tenths behind Fabio Quartararo, he could have joined the lead battle with El Diablo and Marc Márquez, if only he had been faster in the opening laps with a full tank.
Starting from pole position, Maverick had every chance of having a good race. He got off to an excellent start and led the first two laps, before being overtaken by Quartararo and Márquez. Viñales never left third place again, but he lost a lot of ground, being 2.9 behind the leader at the end of the ninth lap. He then came back very regularly on the first two, but it was too late to hope to challenge them for victory and he had to be content with the third step of the podium, which was not so bad because it allowed him to consolidate his fifth place in the general classification by distancing his teammate Valentino Rossi.
For this weekend, the Aragon GP is a very special place for Viñales: it is one of his home Grands Prix and he has good memories of previous editions. The Spaniard has in fact been on the Aragonese podium three times. He achieved a third place in 2011 in the 125cc class, a second place in Moto3 in 3 and a victory in Moto2013 in 2.
According to Maverick Vinales, who are " After the podium in Misano, I am very optimistic coming here to Aragón. Like all Spanish rounds, this GP is very special for me because the fans and the atmosphere are excellent, and I really like this circuit. »
“We did a good job in the previous races, so I expect to be fast here too. We will try to stay focused on our goal, we want to continue to improve with each race weekend. »
“We've seen our potential improve since the start of the second half of the season, so I think we can do a good job. »
For his team manager Massimo Meregalli, “We went straight from the team's and Vale's home GP to Maverick's home race. This is another important race for all of us, as it is the last GP before the overseas tour. »
“We won't see our European fans until the final in Valencia, and we want to say goodbye to them with a good result. Maverick has done a good job, with two third places in a row, and he really likes the Aragonese track. »
“His fans can rest assured that he will be 100% committed to achieving another top result this weekend. »
“Vale is not the biggest fan of this circuit, but he too has been on the podium three times, in his case in the premier class, and he is very motivated to get back on this podium. »
“We expect this weekend to be a lot of work and we are very interested to see if the steps forward we took in Misano will also work very well here. »
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team presents Lorenzo Daretti, the reigning eSport MotoGP World Champion, setting a personal best at the MotorLand Aragón circuit.
Photos © Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
