Maverick Viñales bid farewell to Aprilia with a modest 15th-place finish at the MotoGP Solidarity GP of Barcelona. Excluding retirements, it was his second-worst result of the year, which had started on a promising note.
The Spaniard lost several positions right at the first corner, explaining: ‘I just couldn’t stop the bike. Probably the hard tyre wasn’t still on. But I’m happy, I accept the result, and I’m very excited for the next step’.
The Aprilia RS-GP was fitted with two hard tyres, and Viñales admitted it wasn’t the right decision: ‘I think it’s obvious we didn’t make the correct tyre choice – especially the rear; I liked the front quite a lot, but the rear was not that tyre. There’s nothing more to say. Obviously, there are many things to improve, but I leave that for the next guys’.
When asked if the Americas GP, where he secured his sole victory with Aprilia, was the race where he had the best feeling with the RS-GP, the #12 replied: ‘I had a few races where I had great feelings, like Le Mans 2023. But there, I just crashed, but I think that race could have been other win for sure. In some others, the feeling was really good’.
