After winning his first podium with Aprilia in Assen, a third place, and repeating at Silverstone 15 days ago, hitting second place, Maverick Vinales aims to win his first race with the Noale manufacturer. In particular, this weekend’s race at the Red Bull Ring seems like the ideal stage to try.
“Winning in Austria would be a dream for me. I get excited when I think about it. It involves many hours of work, of a lot of suffering, of achieving a goal. I have an unfinished business with that circuit, I can’t wait to race.” , said the Spaniard in a recent report on DAZN.
Maverick’s objective, realistic given the results obtained in recent races, would make the boy from Roses enter history, because if he reached it he would become the first rider to win with three different brands in MotoGP: Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia.
Other riders in the history of the premier class have succeeded, while legends such as Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, despite driving for three different brands, have not achieved the feat.
Vinales’ first and only victory on a Suzuki came on 4 September 2016 at Silverstone, by which time he had already defined his move to Yamaha for the following year.
With his arrival at the Iwata House in 2017, victories began to happen more regularly. The first came on the day of his debut on the M1 in Qatar. Then that year it was also repeated in Argentina and Le Mans. Maverick has eight victories on Yamaha, the last one last year, also in Qatar.
After the first months of adapting to Aprilia, in which he struggled, Vinales is back to being a competitive rider, who seems capable of aiming for victory, and no one doubts that it is only a matter of time before he can add this historic triumph to the his palmares.
Four precedents
So far in MotoGP no one has ever won with three different brands, but in the 74-year history of the World Championship, four riders have achieved this result in the premier class.
The first driver to do this was the legendary Mike Hailwood, who in 1961 won the 500 race at the Isla di Man on a Norton. In the same year, he imposed himself in Monza with an MV Agusta. In 1966, “Mike the Bike” signed for Honda, with which he won eight Grands Prix, but was unable to conquer the world champion crown.
The second to do it was another legendary driver: Randy Mamola. While failing to become world champion, he won with three different brands. In 1980 he achieved the first of his five victories with Suzuki. In 1984 he moved to Honda, with which he won four races, before joining the Yamaha in 1986, achieving four more wins. Mamola was also very close to becoming the first and only one to dominate with four brands, when he took third place at the 1988 Belgian GP on a Cagiva.
Next on the list is another of the league’s historic superstars, Eddie Lawson. After racing for six years with Yamaha between 1983 and 1988, taking 26 victories and three championships, he moved to Honda in 1989, winning four races and adding another crown to his palmares. Before retiring, in 1992, he also obtained a victory with Cagiva.
The most recent addition to this tight winners club with three different brands was Italy’s Loris Capirossi, who scored nine wins in the premier class but did so under three different brands. In 1996 he made his debut in 500 with Yamaha, winning in Australia. After returning to 250, in 2000 he achieved a splendid victory at the Italian Grand Prix of the 500 riding a private Honda of Pons Racing.
The best moment of Capirossi’s career came with his arrival in Ducati in MotoGP in 2003, because he achieved seven victories with the Borgo Panigale manufacturer. Like Mamola, Capirossi also came close to the feat of poker, also climbing on the podium with Suzuki at the 2008 Czech Republic Grand Prix.
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