Ducati-disrupting Austin MotoGP win remains a mystery to Maverick Vinales
“What we really don’t understand was Portimao and Austin”
Maverick Vinales admits he and Aprilia “don’t understand” why they were able to win the Americas MotoGP round in 2024 “with a bike I didn’t like”.
Vinales registered his first win of any kind since 2021 when he scored a maiden sprint victory in Portugal, only to follow that up with his first grand prix success on the Aprilia in Austin.
At that point of the year it put Vinales into early championship contention, though he would ultimately only score two more sprint podiums after this and end the season seventh in the points.
That Austin win marked the only non-Ducati grand prix victory of the 20-round campaign, while it made him the first rider in the modern era to stand on top of the podium for three different manufacturers.
Speaking ahead of his final weekend with Aprilia ahead of his Tech3 KTM switch, Vinales admits he “discovered too late” that he didn’t like the 2024 RS-GP, which is a bike he struggled with.
As such, how he was able to be so competitive at the Portuguese and American events remains a mystery to him.
“The thing is that when I finished 2023 in Valencia, I asked for just two things: the start [to be better] and the same bike, because I loved that bike,” he told the media, including Crash.net, in Barcelona last month.
“But then in Sepang it was another story.
“It’s the only thing that I regret, because I think with the 2023 bike, with a little bit more aero - just this - a little bit more downforce, was a bike to - I don’t know if to fight with Ducati - be in top four, because of consistency.
“We knew the set-up, we knew everything. So, it was just go on the track and full gas.
“I don’t know [if Aprilia went too far in the wrong direction], but when we discovered it it was too late. We could not change.
“I needed to ride all year with a bike I didn’t like. But with Manuel [Cazeaux] we worked.
“What we really don’t understand was Portimao and Austin. We don’t understand. Then obviously in some tracks we were good, but not as good as in these two tracks.”
Vinales made his debut on the KTM at the post-Solidarity GP test and was 12th overall after 74 laps, with the Spaniard enthused by his initial experience of the RC16.
