Maverick Vinales vows to be ‘aggressive’, top speed gap ‘not that big’

Maverick Vinales is in a bullish mood ahead of the Aragon MotoGP after returning to the front row of the grid in Spain, insisting the top speed disadvantage Yamaha has suffered in previous years won’t be as notable on Sunday.

The Spaniard will start second on the factory Yamaha after being pipped to pole position by Fabio Quartararo, Vinales pledging to target the Frenchman specifically in the opening corners as he looks to get his rhythm going quickly.

“Today was very positive, I was determined to make a good rhythm because last year we suffered a lot in the second part of the race but this year we have found more for the last ten laps, which is really positive because we need that extra to fight with someone. 

“It is clear we have found something on the electronics, so tomorrow we will try to be smooth, especially trying not to make any mistakes and attack from the first corner. I have the championship to my side so we need to go for him, then we will try to get a good rhythm. I feel confident and we have a good chance.

Last year Vinales was rather infamously overtaken on pure power alone by Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati towards the end of the race, the Italian getting the job done before even half of the back straight had been completed before tucking back in and resuming the racing line.

It was used as an example by the riders to petition Yamaha for more top speed from the M1, but while engineers have resisted, Vinales feels the margin to the quickest bikes isn’t as notable as before, while the M1 remains considerably quicker in the more technical portion of the circuit

“I have improved the riding style in sector four so I have closed the gap to the best guys in sector four, but it remains the same thing especially in the first laps. We need to be very precise in sectors two and three, to put some gap to the guys behind and let’s see. Honestly, it’s not that big this year, it’s really good out of 14 and the last corner.”