Maverick Vinales: “We are seeing the light", "Neutral area" next

A change in weight balance gave Maverick Vinales the braking stability he’d been seeking on the KTM RC16.

After following the likes of Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia during practice at COTA, the new Tech3 rider is now setting his sights on improving the ‘neutral’ phase of cornering as MotoGP heads to round four in Qatar this weekend.

Vinales reached Qualifying 2 for the first time this season at COTA and felt he had the potential to fight for a top five.

However, technical issues saw him fail to finish the Sprint and then ride from the pit lane to 14th in the delayed grand prix. Along the way, Vinales set a best race lap just 0.065s slower than the fastest KTM of team-mate Enea Bastianini.

“I am sure that without the grid issues, Maverick would have ended close to the top 5,” said Tech3 team manager Nicolas Goyon.

Now Vinales arrives at a Lusail circuit where he won twice as a Yamaha rider, in 2017 and 2021.

"We are heading to Qatar with a good feeling after the improvements made last week in Austin,” Vinales said.

“For sure the outcome was not the one we wanted, but I felt fast and competitive all weekend for the first time this season, and all I want to do is go to Qatar and continue working in that direction.

“Doha is a track that I like a lot, where I have had good results in the past, so let's try to be competitive straight from Friday, and see how it goes for the weekend.

“It is always special to race at night, so I am excited.”

"It is more under control"

KTM is the only manufacturer without a top-five finish in any of the six races so far this season.

So what was the change that helped Vinales find form after a difficult pre-season?

“We did it in warm-up in Argentina,” Vinales explained. “Basically I was looking to have more rear weight. Trying to control a little bit better the rear slide when I go into the corner.

“This is very important because I can now hit the lines I like.

“You could see on the videos that we always got sideways in braking, but I wanted to have it so that - even if it goes sideways - it is more under control.

“Then I can hit the apex in a better way, and touch the gas better. It all starts from the braking. But still there is room to improve further.”

“The neutral area” for KTM's Maverick Vinales

With his braking improved, Vinales then got a clearer idea of the next area to focus on while following Ducati Lenovo riders Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia during practice at COTA.

“With this new setup and weight balance, I feel much more comfortable,” he said.

“And now that I'm faster, I can understand really well where we have to improve next.

“I was able to do some laps behind Pecco, some laps behind Marc, and I saw clearly where we are missing and where the bike is good.”

The ten-time MotoGP race winner added: “If we divide the corner into areas - braking, neutral area and gas - I think we are good on gas. The traction of the bike is quite good. So in this area, we are well set.

“Now, for me, the area we need to improve is the neutral area, when you release the front brake. There the bike doesn't turn, so you open [the gas] with more degrees of lean on the exit.

“So I can see very clearly where we have to go.”

Vibration and more extreme chatter problems have been an issue for all of the KTMs, with the new big ‘salad box’ on the back of the RC16 believed to offer a minor improvement.

“Still we are not 100% on the package," said Vinales. But we are seeing the light. So that's nice," said Vinales.