Maverick Vinales believes that his first victory with Aprilia in MotoGP at the Grand Prix of the Americas has a « unique significance » compared to his victories with Yamaha and Suzuki. After setting a lap record and converting pole position into a Sprint victory, Vinales overcame a poor start that left him in 11th place to secure a commanding win. It took him 13 laps to get back to the front of the pack, overtaking rookie Pedro Acosta on the GasGas along the way. This victory solidified Vinales’ place in the record books as the first rider in the MotoGP era to win a premier class Grand Prix with three different manufacturers.
Vinales acknowledged that his latest achievement at the Circuit of the Americas holds a special sentimental value due to Aprilia’s situation when he joined in 2021. « Certainly, the victory with Aprilia has a different meaning because when I signed with them, they were performing in P15, P10, and to see how much we have progressed as a factory, » he shared with Autosport. « Undoubtedly, we are a great factory. However, we still need time to improve and be more consistent. But I see a lot of potential ahead of us this year. We need to be smart and focused on our work, especially in situations like what happened in Portimao with the gearbox. It’s about gaining more experience and time at the front and building that confidence. We have to keep fighting because great factories win races. We proved that today, so we should be very happy and proud of our achievements. But of course, what I achieved today was more challenging because we started from the back and now we are at the top. »
