After the 2021 Styrian GP, Maverick Viñales made a surprising and radical decision to leave Yamaha. Shortly after, he was announced as an Aprilia rider, where he remains today, seeing progress grow to the point where he can fight for front positions.
An example that gives confidence to Johann Zarco in his decision to leave a Ducati satellite team to join a Honda team this year. The LCR Honda rider told Canal+ about Viñales’ switch in 2021:
– He was simply bold to choose to leave Yamaha for Aprilia, although perhaps not as bold as when I left KTM, because he already had a contract with Aprilia, while I had nothing.
For Zarco, Viñales’ trajectory with Aprilia is a source of encouragement: ‘This encourages you to tell yourself, “Stay on track”, because you are at the highest level of motorcycle technology, with crazy engineers, so when you understand things and adapt them a bit to your own style, you can work magic. That’s what I’m looking for: the chance to have time to work, to achieve that‘.
When Viñales arrived at Aprilia, the manufacturer could barely fight for the top ten and was in partnership with Gresini. Now they have a full factory team and can fight for victories. The Spanish rider has already been faster than his teammate Aleix Espargaró – who has been part of the manufacturer’s project from the beginning. The victory in Austin is the highlight of Viñales’ time with Aprilia so far.
