Maverick Viñales was once again fortunate to escape serious injury in the Red Bull Ring in Austria after his Yamaha bike’s brakes failed coming into turn one of the BMW M Grand Prix of Styria.
The Spanish rider narrowly avoided disaster thanks to some quick speed of thought, where he jumped off his malfunctioning bike seconds before it went crashing into the safety fence and burst into flames.
Since the incident, Alpinestars have broken down the data of the incident which thankfully saw the 25-year-old come out unscathed.
#TechTuesday fact: the data from @mvkoficial12's
— alpinestars (@alpinestars) August 25, 2020
incident going into Turn One during the Styrian Grand Prix shows that he jumped off his bike at 218km/h and that the impact when he hit the Tarmac was 23.45g; he walked away unharmed ????????????#Alpinestars | #AlpinestarsProtects https://t.co/cHEfC99z28 pic.twitter.com/0MtxBKW6f4
Looking at the information, we can see that Viñales was travelling at 218 km/h when he made the split second decison to leap from the bike, as the suits built-in airbags deployed milliseconds before initial impact to protect the Catalan as he hit the tarmac at well over 20g.
The Monster Energy rider felt the maximum impact with the ground just over a second later, where he registered 23.45g while sliding along the asphalt. This was quickly followed by another heavy impact at just over 20g, as he continued to slide for another 4.8 seconds before slowing down into a tumble for 1.9 seconds.
Thanks in large to the airbag safety technology in the suit, Viñales was able to immediately get back to his feet but the same could not be said for his factory Yamaha, as it caught alight, causing the race to be red flagged.
It was the second scary incident in which the Catalan was involved in in Austria, as seven days prior he was lucky to avoid being hit by a flying motorcycle in the Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli crash.