Maverick Viñales appears to maintain his competitiveness at the MotoGP Spanish GP – having finished the Jerez Practice in fourth place, 0.594s off the top.
However, a problem with the KTM RC16 hindered him near the end.
The Spaniard spoke about the breakdown that prevented him from making better use of the final minutes: ‘I had a technical problem on the last time attack, so I wasn’t able to put everything together. I was preparing myself a bit to just to try to smash it at the end. And I had this technical problem. I ran off the track because the rear locked, I went back to the track it locked again, and the bike stopped completely’.
In any case, the performance and potential left Viñales pleased: ‘Apart from that, I think it was quite positive, to be honest. The pace was quite nice – I need 0.2s to be able to fight for the top four, but maybe I can find it throughout the weekend. But I’m quite satisfied, to be honest’.
The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider’s sensations are similar to what he experienced in Qatar, but he admitted that Ducati seems more competitive: ‘It’s quite similar. The only thing is that maybe in Qatar the Ducatis were a bit slower than here in Jerez. I think here they are a bit faster, maybe because the characteristics of the bike. In Jerez you have a lot of 180º corners, and Ducati is good in these corners because they turn quite easily. Maybe here you feel a bigger gap, but it’s because of that, not anything else – because the bike is at the same level as in Qatar. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish the good laps, but it’s okay’.