There have been some years where it seemed to rain almost every weekend the MotoGP™ Championship was racing, but before Assen it had been relatively scarce in 2016. This meant that Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) had very little experience riding in the wet when the lights went out in Assen and struggled as a result. But the talented Spaniard has learned his lesson and is confident of a better race in Sachsenring no matter the conditions. In 2015 he had a thrilling battling with teammate Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) but came off second best, something he’s keen to avoid a repeat of.
Maverick Viñales: “The race in Assen was not so positive for us in terms of the result, but we took advantage from the lessons we’ve learned there. It was the first time for me and the GSX-RR in such a heavy rain and the experience we got will be very useful for us in case of another rainy race. This is the positive we can take out of it. The German round will be interesting as well; the Sachsenring is very peculiar, last year’s battle with Aleix was fierce and we had a lot of fun, but our global performance has improved a lot since 2015, therefore I expect to be more competitive than the 11th place of last year. This year we have already proved to be capable of fighting with the leaders, it’s not an easy thing, it never is, but it’s something achievable and we must find a better consistency to be always close to the top.”