“I said, ‘Come on, Maverick!’” - Vinales dreamed of history in Qatar charge

Maverick Vinales stuns with breakthrough KTM ride in Qatar: “We fought against Ducati and showed our potentialღ”

Vinales, Marquez, Bagnaia, 2025 Qatar MotoGP
Vinales, Marquez, Bagnaia, 2025 Qatar MotoGP

After KTM’s rocky start to the MotoGP season, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Maverick Vinales stunned by fighting for victory in Qatar, ඣleading five laps and crossing the l๊ine in second.

A cruel post-race tyre pressure penalty later saw him classified 14th, but th𓆏at couldn’t mask a breakthrough performance𓂃.

Vinales, who hadn’t finished higher than tenth thiꦫs season, charged from sixth to f𒅌irst, overtaking the likes of eventual winner Marc Marquez to lead at mid-race distance.

That potentially put him on course to become the first MotoGP rider to win w🔥ith four different brands of bike: “I saw 0.7s [lead]. I said, ‘Come on, Maverick, you ca🌸n do it!’

“But I also saw Marquez was a little bit controlling the🔯 r𝔍ear and the front tyre.”

Vinales couldn’t contain Marquez when the world cham♉pionship leader unleashed his full speed in the closing♔ stages.

But he stayed within 1.8s of♕ Marquez by the chequered flag and pulled almost three-seconds clear of the other factory Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia.

“I tried at the maximum,” Vinales said. “For me, it’s more than a victory. We need to be very happy. We fought agai𓂃nst Ducati and showed our potential with the KTM. So, that’s great.

“Of course, I believe it that I can do it,” Vinales said of the turnaround. “Obviously it’s not easy. We are fighting against amazing riders. Marc and Pecco💦 are very, v꧃ery fast.

“However, we believe in our process. We believe in our project. W🍰e believe in our KTM.

“We did a great job. We started the yea🐟r in a difficult way because still I didn’t feel really good with the bike.

"But step by step I’m ♛getting there. I know really well my potential. I just need to stay calm, patient and give the maximum like I did today.”

Maverick Vinales, Marc Marquez, 2025 Qatar MotoGP
Maverick Vinales, Marc Marquez, 2025 Qatar MotoGP

What was the key in Qatar?

According to Vinales, it was a combination of adaptation, b🍎ike changes and finally banishing the KTM’s persistent chatter problems - at least ♏for now.

“The vibrations today wereꦯ a little bit less,” he explained. “Also I changed a little b✤it the way to enter in the corners, and force more the front than the rear.

“That helped me a lot to keep a good consistent pace thro🎐ugh all the race because I could keep a lotꦉ of corner speed.

“Still there are points to improve. Obviously, we know that that vibration isꦍ the main key to maybe get closer to Marc and Pecco.

“But today we must be happy. T🦩he bike was in a really good level compared to the previous races.”

Nonetheless, the size of the step in Qatar had bꦅee♕n a surprise.

“I expect that every weekend I’m doing a step ahead,” the former Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia MotoGP race winner said of his a꧂daptation to the RC16.

“I didn’t expect to m♋ake this🔴 big a step, especially for the race, but we believe we can do it.”

24 hours earlier, Vin💮ales had been among those to make an ill-fated gamble on the soft rear tyre in the Spr✅int race, leaving him in tenth place.

“Yesterday we made a mistake, but we must be happy that today we turned the cards around,” h𒈔e said.

“With the medium tyre, I was feeling quite good all the race. The drop was not massi🐼ve, so we could keep a r🙈eally good rhythm.

“Still there are some 🌟limits, but there are some goo📖d points as well on the bike. So, it was good to fight in the front to really understand where we have to improve.

“It’🧜s obvious that from yesterday to today I have less vibration, so I was a𝐆ble to push more,” he underlined.

Maverick Vinales, 2025 Qatar MotoGP
Maverick Vinales, 2025 Qatar MotoGP

The subsequent tyre-pressure penalty cost KTM its first podium of the season, promoting VR46’s Franco M🍰orbidelli to third for another all-Ducati rostrum behind Marquez and Bagnaia.

Had Vinale🧸s seen a warning on his dashboard🌳 about possible low tyre pressure?

“I was just looking forward. I didn’t look at anything else. I didn൩’t have time. I was so concentrated,” he said.

“I don’t care what willꦓ happen. I’m happy with the result and the performance.😼 This is something we needed. Really happy.”

KTM lap times, 2025 Qatar MotoGP
KTM lap times, 2025 Qatar MotoGP

“Maverick used a different bike”

The next-best KTM at the finish line was Pedro Acosta, over twelve seconds behind Vinales🌃 in ninth but also pleased to have avoided the vibrations.

Vinales’ Tech3 team-mate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Enea Bastianini was eleventh w🎉ith Acosta’s factory colleague Brad Binder left top salvage 13th after “one of the most difficult weekends of his career”.

All four KTMs were seen trying different parts on the rear of their ♚bikes over the Lusail weekend, with Bastianini revealing:

“Maverick has been really fast today and has done a great j🧜ob, incredible.

“Maverick used a different bike compared to the other three KTM riders. But, well at the moment, we can’t do this o🌸n my one.

“But I don’t want to ta🌠ke anything away from Maverick because today he has done a very good job.”

Bastianini declined to explain why he couldn’t have the same bike s💝pec as Vinales in Qatar.

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