Phillip Island last overseas "opportunity" for Maverick Vinales and Aprilia?
“We know that our opportunities are Mandalika and Phillip Island… The rest I think will be like Japan.”
Maverick Vinales wanted to swiftly turn the page on a sour Japanese MotoGP after a pair of disappointing races at Motegi.
Qualifying a surprise third at the stop-go track, Vinales couldn't deactivate his holeshot device at Turn 1 of the Saturday Sprint, finishing in ninth place.
But the Spaniard didn’t even see the chequered flag in the main grand prix, crashing out of eleventh, just behind team-mate Aleix Espargaro, at mid-distance.
“I don’t know if the grip level changed or something, but it was the worst session of the weekend in terms of performance and feeling,” Vinales said of the grand prix.
Espargaro later labelled rear grip as a ‘nightmare’ but Vinales didn’t even want to dwell on what exactly went wrong.
“The bike is the bike, so we cannot do anything more than trying to forget this weekend, even though I made some good things [in qualifying].
“We will concentrate on the next one.
“For me, from the overseas [rounds], our opportunities are Mandalika and Phillip Island. They will be the tracks [for us]. The rest I think will be like Japan.
“So full focus for Phillip Island and try to get back to the good positions.”
Mandalika - where Vinales rode from tenth to sixth in the grand prix - and Phillip Island are both flowing circuits, more naturally suited to the RS-GP.
Phillip Island takes place from October 18-20, followed in consecutive weekends by Buriram and Sepang, where heat from the RS-GP roasted its riders a year ago.
Vinales and Espargaro will then make their final Aprilia appearances at the Valencia before switching to Tech3 KTM and Honda test riding duties, respectively.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
