After that traumatic departure from the brand from the tuning forks last year, with the championship halfway through the calendar, the Spaniard disputed the last five grand prix with Aprilia, to gain time with a view to this 2022. On paper, this season had to be that of the explosion of the Roses corridor (Girona) with the Noale factory. However, Maverick Viñales has only accumulated four points in the two races held so far, with 12th place in Losail as the best result.
The Catalan had designed a roadmap in which, at this point in the film, he had to be absolutely coupled to the RS-GP . However, he probably underestimated the big difference between this prototype and the Yamaha M1 that he drove for five years (2017-2021), and that is taking its toll on him.
Viñales still does not feel at all comfortable on a motorcycle with very different characteristics from what he was used to. And changing the chip is not being easy at all. It is not so on a Grand Prix weekend due to lack of time and it will be even less so this time in Argentina, where activity on the track has been reduced to two days (Saturday and Sunday), due to logistical problems with the transport of all the material.
“Here we will continue with our plan. The adaptation to the Aprilia is going well. Closing the gap to the first takes time. I am positive after the warm up in Mandalika, even though 16th position is not what we wanted. I have many I want to see if what we found in the warm up works here from the start. If that happens, it will mean that we have taken a big step forward”, summarized the #12.
In the opening round, in Qatar, he finished 23 seconds behind the winner (Enea Bastianini), and 21 seconds behind Aleix Espargaró, his teammate, who finished fourth.
In Lombok, two weeks ago, he finished 37 seconds behind the first (Miguel Oliveira) and five seconds behind his neighbor in the workshop, in a test marked by the difficulties posed by both the rain and the poor condition of the asphalt.
For Viñales , the key to taking the step forward that he should have already taken lies in the sensations that emerge when he arrives at a track where he has not yet ridden the Aprilia.
“When I get to the circuit, it’s still hard for me to adapt, because my memories of it are with a very different bike. For example, in the [pre-season] test in Sepang , I had three or four days to get used to the sensations of the Aprilia. But after , we arrived in Qatar and there the ones I had with the Yamaha returned to me. For me it is complicated”, continues the Moto3 world champion (2013), who, despite all of the above, is convinced that he can meet the objective that he himself marked when signing for the Italian structure: “We are not worried about the lack of competitiveness, because we know that we can be fast. I am convinced that if we continue working the results will come”.
