Maverick Vinales will begin his second season with Aprilia in 2023, after arriving in Noale in the latter part of 2021, following the traumatic divorce with Yamaha. As Aleix Espargaro’s teammate, the Spaniard enjoyed the best moments of the RS-GP, the bike with which Aprilia conquered its first MotoGP success last year in Argentina, and with which the rider from Granollers concluded last season in fourth position in the general classification.
Vinales, who scored three podiums with Aprilia colors and finished eleventh in 2022, must take the step forward that is presupposed for the pure speed he has and for the level of competitiveness that the prototype he drives has reached. In the eyes of most of the grid, the Piaggio group’s bet is the only one capable of facing the extremely powerful Ducatis.
On the final day of testing in Portimao, the rider from Roses completed a total of 82 laps, with the best time taking him to seven tenths of a second from the top (occupied by Pecco Bagnaia) and one tenth from Aleix Espargaro, who finished the top 10. Vinales tried his time attack on lap 26, much earlier than the others, to then concentrate on preparing for the race that will open the championship in two weeks, still in the Algarve.
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“We focused a lot on the race, and the good thing is that Aprilia keeps the tires very well. We checked it with the medium rear, the ideal would have been to try with the soft”, said Vinales, who believes he will be able to complete the entire Portuguese Grand Prix program with the softest specification available.
“I see the soft tire as more versatile, both on the flying lap and for the Sprint Race and for the long one”, added the Aprilia standard bearer, who this year is reuniting with Manuel Cazeaux after the Argentinian engineer arrived at Aprilia from Suzuki .
Despite the decent record with which Mack closed the winter, the calm he shows in his appearances suggests that he has everything more or less under control: “Sunday I put myself in the conditions that I don’t like, with little grip. But they can help me a lot in the race and all of this will have her reward. It’s obvious that I would have liked to be higher up, but the important thing is to stay ahead in the race, not now”.
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