Maverick Vinales: “We have to accept it, trust the process”
Maverick Vinales begins his quest for success with a fourth different MotoGP manufacturer at Buriram this weekend.
23 at Suzuki, 1 at Yamaha, and then 16 at Aprilia.
That’s the number of MotoGP races it took Maverick Vinales to stand on the podium with each of his previous manufacturers.
The only rider in the MotoGP era to win on three different brands of bike kicks off his quest for KTM success with an RC16 race debut in this weekend’s Buriram season opener.
“I’ll try to [adapt] faster than in Aprilia to be honest, it took a lot of time to learn the bike!” Vinales smiled.
“I’ve always felt since the first laps that the [KTM] is suitable for my riding style.
“The bike has good potential so we will try to understand and find the maximum from it.”
Maverick Vinales at KTM: “Trust the process”
Winter testing yielded 12th, 16th and 9th places on the timesheets at the end of the respective Barcelona, Sepang and Buriram outings.
“We had a good pre-season, but it will take time to fully understand how to exploit the KTM,” Vinales said.
“We made some important steps in the initial phase, but for sure the learning will continue while racing, and we have to accept it, trust the process.
“Starting the season in Thailand will be nice, different, and I love the passion Thai fans always bring to the track.
“It provides extra motivation to race in front of them, so I think it will be a great opening round.”
Another novelty for Vinales is that, after ten years at factory MotoGP teams, Thailand will be his first grand prix weekend as a satellite rider.
“[Last] year the championship was won by a satellite team,” he shrugged, referring to Jorge Martin’s title victory for Pramac Ducati.
“In the previous years, in another era, maybe [being in a factory team was more important], but now the bikes are the same.
“My feeling with the team is good and the support is there from the factory also.”
Tech3 predecessor Pedro Acosta scored the most podiums of any KTM rider last year and came within two points of beating factory team leader Brad Binder for fifth in the world championship.
The Austrian manufacturer insists there will again be no factory/satellite divide in 2025, when Acosta will partner Binder and fellow MotoGP race winner Enea Bastianini completes Tech3’s line-up alongside Vinales.
“The ambience is good,” said Vinales. “We [the four KTM riders] all work - and this is the feeling I have - for one mission. This is very important.”
Free practice for the Thai Grand Prix, where Vinales qualified tenth last October, then finished seventh in the wet race, starts on Friday morning.
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.
