Maverick Vinales “found a better base”, bags first KTM MotoGP points

Empty-handed at the Thai season opener, Maverick Vinales scored his first MotoGP points as a KTM rider with twelfth place in Argentina.

The Spaniard had only gained one position from 19th on the grid in the Saturday Sprint but, boosted by a ‘better base’ and 11th place in the warm-up, made swift progress in the grand prix.

Vinales reached 15th by lap 5, was handed 14th by a long lap penalty for Raul Fernandez, then picked off Fermin Aldeguer and Jack Miller to finish in 13th, 0.7s behind Yamaha’s Alex Rins.

That later became twelfth place when Ai Ogura was disqualified.

"It has been an important weekend for us,” said former Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia race winner Vinales. “We did not start as we wanted, but we recovered a lot of information that has brought us to a better feeling overall."

Vinales' best grand prix lap was only 0.2s slower than he had done in the half-distance Sprint.

“I rode much better than [the Sprint], and it gave me extra motivation for the next round," he said.

"I think that we found a way to go, and I felt much more comfortable on the bike, so I am looking forward to the next round."

Tech3 Team Manager: "A decent result"

Team manager Nicolas Goyon praised Vinales’ fightback but admitted there’s still work to do.

"Maverick produced a great effort with a P13 finish from 19th on the grid.

“It is of course not what we are targeting, but it is a decent result, especially that it seems that Maverick found a better base on the bike this morning, which was confirmed in the race. This is what we are looking for.”

The next round at COTA was the scene of Vinales’ perfect weekend for Aprilia last year.

Bastianini Battles Back After Early Crash

Meanwhile, team-mate Enea Bastianini, who salvaged ninth on his Tech3 debut at Buriram, wasn’t able to exploit his tyre-saving skills after falling in early contact with Fernandez.

The Italian re-joined 12 seconds behind last place before eventually overtaking rookie Somkiat Chantra for 18th in the closing laps.

"My race finished early unfortunately after Raul Fernandez pushed me out in T9 as he arrived too fast, and I crashed, which was a great shame because I took a strong start, already fighting for 13th after one lap,” Bastianini said.

“I got up to re-join the race, to take the experience and see how my feeling was, even if I was missing the wing on the left side.

“Our pace was good today despite the strange sensation without one wing. Tyres dropped a lot in the final laps, but I pushed a lot in the middle as I gave everything to come back.

“In the end, we made the gap, and at least I did not finish last, but it was just an unfortunate race for us."

Factory KTM riders Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta were the top RC16s over the finish line, in seventh and eighth places but 14 seconds adrift of winner Marc Marquez (Ducati).