Maverick Vinales: “Unbelievable” race despite gearbox glitch, “I was praying it would go in, then…”
Maverick Vinales was battling for victory in the Portimao MotoGP desp🐈ite suffering a gear selection issue for most of the grand prix, which eventually spat him off on t🍌he final lap.
With just over a lap to go, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Maverick Vinales was confident he could still fight Jorge Martin for victory in Sunday’s Portimao MotoGP - despite struggli🅺ng to engage sixth gear on the m𝓰ain straight for much of the race.
The Aprilia stཧar was chasing a dream victory double after winning the Sprint, but his Sunday hopes fell apart when he pulled onto the main straight for the penultimate time.
As he frantic♑ally stamped on the gear lever again to ඣtry to engage sixth, Vinales lost second place to Enea Bastianini.
Worse was to follow at Turn 1 when, after running wide as he searched desperately for any gear, he was spat💖 into a h🦄ighside when second suddenly engaged.
“I tried to put 6th, but it didn't go in. So the bike went into neutral and I hit the RPM limiter. I put m𓃲y leg out to let Bastianini understand that I had a problem.
“I kept trying to put 6th but it didn't go in. So I went back to 2nd [at Turn 1] and when I toucꦕhed the gas [the gear] entered into 2nd and then I had a highside. [The bike] didn't lock up.
“I will not sa♎y it’s a disappointm﷽ent, but I will say that this can maybe be a call of attention to improve a little bit more the reliability.
“I really encourage🌳 all the Aprilia technicians to improve in that area. I think it's important if you want to fight each weekend, especially for victories.”
Given such gear issues, Vinales’ race pace ꧟was, in his words, “amazing”.
The Spaniard set the second♛ fastest lap of the race, behind only Enea Bastianini, on lap 20 of 24 even though his top speed varied from 334.3 to 345.0km/h on the main straight.
“It's amazing how when I get the correct balance, I can go very fast with this bike,” said Vinales, who had strug൲gled with the 2024 RS-GP throughout winter testing and the Qatar opener.
“From lap 6, [shifting] from 5th to 6th gear, sometimes it didn't go in. S🍃o I was hitting the RPMs for so long and losing a lot on top speed and losing some tenths.
“But despite that, I was able to do ‘38s and ﷽that was amazing.
“All the race I thought I could fight for victory.♕ The problem is that ev🌱ery time the gearbox got worse and worse.
“I was ju🏅st praying it would go [into gear during the race] because I pressed like five times and t♎hen it would go in.
“So every time I was losing 0.2s on the main straight and then I would recover al𒆙l the ga🔯p again. Even with all these problems I would stay ‘38.8, ‘38.8... It was unbelievable because it could have been ‘38.6.
“I don't ꧋know what to say. Sometimes these things can happen. I prefer that it happen♓s when you are in the front.”
Vinalꦓes seemed to have a similar issue at Jerezไ last year.
“It felt similar on 🅠the bike, but I don't know if🔯 it's exactly the same [problem],” he said.
“Anyway, I finished this weekend with a [Sprint] vict𒁏ory. So, happy.
“I will just say that I'm really motivated and I see my🙈self winning another race again.
“I want to really say to Aprilia that this must be an encouragement for the next races. And the upcoming events are fꦰantastic, especially for me.
“So we need to be 💯happy and we need to be really proud of what we did this weekend.”
Vinales, a Grand Prix winner with Suzuki and Yamaha, wil🌊l continue his pursuit of an Aprilia GP victory at COTA next month.
Team-mate Aleix Espargaro, who led the Aprilia cha🔴llenge in Qatar, was eigh꧑th in the Portuguese grand prix.
Peter🌱 has 𒐪been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
