The underrated star of the 2024 Barcelona MotoGP test

There were a number of big changes on the grid for the 2024 MotoGP post-season test at Barcelona earlier this week.

While all eyes were firmly on new world champion Jorge Martin’s first ride on the Aprilia and Marc Marquez’s debut inside the factory Ducati garage, one rider quietly impressed on his first time on the KTM.

Maverick Vinales has moved out of Aprilia and into the KTM fold with Tech3 for 2025, and was an impressive 12th between the factory RS-GPs as he got up to speed on the RC16.

In this week’s Crash MotoGP Podcast, the team discuss Vinales’ initial feedback of the bike and what we can gleam from his first test on the KTM.

“Interesting Vinales, coming from Aprilia and immediately loved the power of the engine,” Crash MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren said.

“I think he was the fastest top speed at the test. He loved the starts, as well, the KTM starting is about the best in MotoGP, probably even quicker than Ducati.

“So, he revelled in that. He wasn’t very sure about the fast corners, which is where the Aprilia was good, but he said it felt pretty good as well.

“So, early days. The grip levels at the test, you’ve always got to be a little bit careful, especially if you are a factory lacking grip - and most of them have been looking for some kind of grip or traction somewhere.

“You’ve always got to be a little bit careful about jumping to conclusions on a Tuesday test with a whole day of rubber on track already. But Vinales, he said the first impression was very positive.”

Crash Social Media Manager Jordan Moreland added: “He looked really confident. It looked it was a natural fit.

“Maverick has that style that no matter what bike he gets on he looks good on it, he looked good on the Suzuki, he looked good on the Yamaha and the Aprilia as well.

“And I think he’s a good person to have because he has all that experience, he gets labelled that he’s so inconsistent, you don’t know where he’s going to be week by week.

“But I said before there’s going to be a weekend next year where he’s going to be right up there fighting for a win.”

For Crash Senior Journalist Lewis Duncan: “Natural was the word he used at his debrief.

“I’ve not seen Maverick that happy in a long time. He was really pleased with the bike, he likes all of it. He considers himself to be the best starter in MotoGP, certainly from what he’s seen on the data, and he was blown away by what the KTM can do.

“He’s clearly very pumped by this KTM move. He was always really keen to give the bike a go and now he’s done it, I think he’s pretty excited about what’s to come.

“Obviously, we need to take Maverick with a bit of a pinch of salt sometimes because he said over the weekend he still doesn’t understand that Americas GP weekend, he doesn’t understand why that was so good - Portugal as well, because those are the outliers.

“Was it him, was it the bike? I mean, you look at some of the results Aprilia had following that point before it then tapered off it’s difficult to tell. So, that’s Maverick’s biggest problem.

“I think he’s a bit too sensitive. We’ve seen that when it’s perfect, he’s brilliant. But when it strays outside of that, he just falls off a cliff. And we have seen that with the KTMs this year.

“When they are good, they are right up the front. But when they are bad, qualifying last weekend: Acosta gets through to Q2 but the next KTM was 18th.”