Team Suzuki Ecstar rider Maverick Vinales expressed his disappointment after a late crash in Argentina, during the pre-race press conference ahead of the third round at the Circuit of the Americas,
Vinales felt the podium slip out of his grasp when he lost it in the final stages of the race despite looking so strong. He had out-accelerated and overtaken the two Ducati riders and had Movistar Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi in his sights when he crashed out. He said, “For sure I was disappointed because I was there, I was having the podium on my hands and I make a mistake and for sure, I cannot accept that I do these mistakes when I have the podium there.”
The Suzuki is in its second season since returning to the MotoGP class in 2015 and Vinales is determined to get the bike back to its winning ways. He claims that all was not lost from the second round in Argentina, “It will be great if I can bring Suzuki in the podium because it is a lot of years that the bike is not on the top. But anyway, I feel confident that I can try to do it again. For sure I learned a lot when I was riding behind Vale, Iannone and Dovi; what our bike needs so for sure it will be helpful.”
Looking ahead to the third round at the Circuit of the Americas, Vinales seems confident that his style is well suited to the track in Texas, “I like it a lot! It’s one of the special tracks for me where I can use my riding style better. Last year was difficult, it was only the second race of the first year in MotoGP and the bike still wasn’t like now. I’m quite confident for this Grand Prix and for sure we will work hard and for sure we’ll try to repeat as we were doing in Argentina.”
Vinales is looking to improve on the seventh position he finished in during the 2015 season after qualifying twelfth. He finished approximately nineteen seconds behind his teammate Aleix Espargaro who has struggled during so far this year. The Spaniard remains one to watch as he continues to impress so early on.
