Maverick Vinales rates career-saving Aprilia MotoGP tenure

Maverick Vinales says he ended his tenure with the Aprilia MotoGP squad “satisfied” with the environment he had even if “there were things missing” from the bike.

Vinales’ career looked uncertain in the first half of the 2021 season when he was still with Yamaha, as his relationship with the Japanese marque soured while his results dried up.

Making the decision to end his two-year deal early heading into the summer break, Vinales was removed from the team after an incident in the Styrian Grand Prix where he was found to have been deliberately over-revving his M1’s engine.

Aprilia offered him a career lifeline, with Vinales joining the marque for the final rounds of 2021 before spending three full seasons on the RS-GP.

The highlight of his time with Aprilia came in 2024, when Vinales won the Americas Grand Prix to become the first rider in the modern era to score victories for three different manufacturers.

The 2024 campaign was also his first at Aprilia in which he was able to beat his team-mate Aleix Espargaro in the standings.

Asked by Crash.net in November how he rates his time at Aprilia, Vinales said: “Obviously, on a human side I am very satisfied about my way in Aprilia.

“I discovered really good people, passionate people. They were very warm from the beginning to the end.

“So, this is a really good sign. It means we did a really good job.

“Obviously, technically speaking there were things that were of course missing - especially this year.

“But we must be happy. Both parts fit each other and in the end we achieved good results.

“Even this period where it looks like we have one factory who is on the moon, we have been able to be on the front row.

“So, we’ve been able to do good things. So, we need to be happy.”

Vinales moves to KTM next season after signing a multi-year deal to join the Tech3 squad, while the factory Aprilia team fields an all-new line-up in 2024 of world champion Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi.