Maverick Viñales has revealed that he has signed a new contract to remain with the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team for another two seasons. The Spaniard, who took three wins for the marque last season and came third in the Championship overall, announced the renewal at the 2018 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Presentation in Madrid.
“I feel really good inside the team," says Viñales of the renewal, "and I especially feel the desire to win, which is something I identify with and something I want. We make a good compromise and for both of us it will be special. So thank you to Yamaha because they’ve made my dreams come true – let’s see if this season we can do it again.”
The announcement is the first of the year pertaining to next year, ahead of the first track action for 2018 that begins on Sunday at Sepang. Before the news came out, Viñales also talked about that and the season just gone.
“The winter has been really good, training as always and trying to take it to a higher level," smiled the Spaniard, before talking about his relationship with his team: “Here I share the objective, the passion, and for me it’s like being in a family that shares your feelings. I have a great relationship with everyone in Yamaha."
Next up, the 2013 Moto3™ Champion was asked about pressure: "Pressure is always positive. When you have pressure, you push yourself more. That’s always positive and something I like But the objective is the same as last year, trying to be ready from the first race, on the podium in every race and then at the end of the year fight for the title. That’s the goal, and for sure we’ll learn from the mistakes of last year and try to be the best.”
Finally, the mistakes of last year was a topic Viñales returned to again, saying that patience is his modus operandi during the 2018 preseason - and that he's ready for the new season:
“We’re trying different things, trying to improve," he affirmed, "and with the experience from last year we’ve improved some of my weak points. I think I’ve done good winter training, so let’s see on the bike. Last year we chose everything fast, and maybe we didn’t choose the best. So this year we want to do a lot of laps and choose the best for the year. And it’ll be very important to improve in the rain.”
Sunday, January 28th, 10am (GMT +8) - save the date, and get ready to see bikes back on track for testing at Sepang.