“There was no plan. My plan was to get first and push like hell. That’s what I tried and that’s why I didn’t want to let Marc past and then I went close to the gravel because I braked so late. But it’s nice. It’s nice to be back.”
Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) has had some ups and downs of late, but the 2013 Moto3™ World Champion was indeed back in the Motul TT Assen – fighting for the win in one of the most spectacular races of all time. Leading, battling, braking too late, overtaking to perfection and putting it back on the podium, it was a solid race to third for the Spaniard. And as you’d expect, he was happy after the flag.
“For sure I’m happy. We’d been struggling a lot in the first laps but it seems that today we worked hard, and it was good,” says the Yamaha rider of his much-improved first part of the race. “It was good, honestly, to be strong. And in the middle of the race I felt really strong but then the tyre made a big drop, which, I think, we can solve pretty easily. But for the next races we have to think the way to go fast.”
Amazing insight into the numbers behind racing a #MotoGP machine!
— MotoGP™???????????? (@MotoGP) 1 July 2018
Jump onboard with @maverickmack25 for the opening lap of the #DutchGP ???? pic.twitter.com/p71vlFsXL9
Despite the cautionary words, however, Viñales thinks they’ll be going fast in the next races using the same approach as Assen, repeating how good it is to be back.
“It’s nice to be back and it’s nice to feel strong again. Especially the way we worked this weekend, I think this was the correct approach to the race. The bike was to win. We didn’t take advantage because I started further back but at the next races we need to think how we did this weekend because it’s the best way to go.”
Will the approach work at the Sachsenring? Find out in two weeks…