Vinales: ‘Aprilia picked me up at worst point and now we fight for victories’

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Maverick Vinales enthused after his third rostrum result of the year in the San Marino Grand Prix that he was accomplishing “the expectations of the project” set out by Aprilia.

The factory Aprilia rider struggled in the early stages of his stay with the Noale-based marque, though a step forward in qualifying speed for the German GP back in June seems to have been the catalyst for an impressive run of form that has seen him score podium finishes in three of the past four encounters.

His run at Misano was arguably his most established run yet as he pressured eventual race winner Francesco Bagnaia for the majority of the contest, before eventually running out of rear tyre grip and slipping to a distant third.

The nine-time premier class race winner was full of praise for his Aprilia squad following the San Marino GP in how it “picked him up” from “the worst point in my career”, adding that he feels more is still to come if he can further hone the RS-GP to his riding style.

“It’s fantastic and the last six races have gone really well, in all of them I’ve had troubles but we are achieving good results and have good consistency and especially in the first laps today I felt strong,” said Vinales.

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“It’s great that I’ve accomplished the expectations of the project, but we can’t stop and this is just the beginning and we need more time to adapt the bike a little bit better for my riding style but we have a lot of confidence.

“I owe huge thanks to Aprilia because at the worst point in my career they picked me up, and now we are fighting for victories, they give me that motivation so that I can keep improving myself.”

Vinales insisted that he tried his best to pass Bagnaia for the lead but that he “never had the chance” as a result of his late-race grip problems, an issue he hopes can be worked on during the two-day test at Misano this week.

“I tried to fight with Pecco (Bagnaia) but I never had the chance so we need to keep working, but thanks to Aprilia because they are giving us the motivation by pushing so much to improve the bike and that is what we need,” continued Vinales.

“The next two days of testing will be perfect with no pressure and trying to find something else, I feel really good so hopefully we can continue like this.

“At the end of the race I started to lose rear grip, which was something that happened to me in Assen and Silverstone so we need to work on that, but we are on the podium consistently so I’m sure the victory will arrive.

“I love Aragon and most of the time I was in the fight for pole positions and fighting in the races, it was the first race last year so it will be interesting to see how much I improve, I’m looking forward to it.”

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