MotoGP – Viñales: "My feelings are fantastic"

April 2, 2021

The winner of the first stop on the calendar and as a consequence leader of the points table, is sweet. Last Sunday, he was not only able to apply the previously established plan in an unbeatable way and that led him to be the rider who best managed the tires in Losail . In addition, the pulse he receives from his M1 makes him feel very calm despite having entered the spaces that give direct access to the second sieve of the timed (Q2) in the last breath.

At the gates of a third free test, already on Saturday, which will hardly alter the established order with a view to the session that will order the bikes on the grid this Sunday, Viñales sees himself with options to fight for the victory again, and chaining two victories, something that he has only achieved once in MotoGP, at the start of the 2017 season, his first in Yamaha , in which he won in Qatar and in Argentina .

Last Friday, Viñales was able to finish with the sixth fastest time of the day, while this time it was ninth, at the time limit, and being two tenths slower than then. However, this theoretical step back does not worry the Spaniard at all, who sees himself with options to fight for the jackpot again because his feelings are great.

“I feel good with the bike and I’m going fast. We have incredible pace, better than I expected. My sensations are fantastic”, summed up Viñales , despite not having been able to squeeze the full potential of his bike in the fastest lap attempts he made.

“I used two preheated tires, and their grip level is not the same. But what the rubber transmits to me with the medium tires is very good, despite the fact that those will not be the ones that we will use in the race. When I put the soft ones, the performance will go up and I will be able to go even faster. We have a good opportunity to fight for the race”, added the Catalan.

Last Sunday, the rider from Roses (Girona) carried out a perfect strategy: he placed himself in the leading group after the start, he stayed there, without forcing himself, and when the life of the tires of the four in front of him began to fall he increased the pace and began to overtake everyone until he was at the head of the peloton (lap 15). At that moment he gritted his teeth for three laps and distanced himself from them until he crossed the finish line with more than a second of margin over Johann Zarco, the second.

“Surely now we will play other cards. The most important thing will be to get to the first corner as the first non- Ducati rider. From then on it will be important to get ahead as soon as possible, and try to open a gap if possible. The sooner you get in front, the sooner you can start managing the tires”, concluded Viñales.