“I don’t have words, words don’t come out. “It has been very hard to get here,” said the Catalan pilot Maverick Viñalesin tears, sobbing, far beyond emotion, when Izaskun Ruiz, from DAZNput the microphone in front of him and congratulated him, not only for having achieved the double in Austin (Texas, USA)with incontestable victories on Saturday and Sunday, but for having become the first pilot of the ‘it was MotoGP’ to win a grand prize with three different brands: Suzuki (Silverstone-2016), Yamaha (Qatar-2017) and Aprilia (USA-2024).
“I have suffered a lot, a lot, until I managed to win again. My family knows it well, all the effort I have put into this and, in the end, I have achieved a great reward, so I am very happy and the only thing I want, now!, as soon as possible, is to hug my girls, to Raquel, my wife, Nina and Blanca, my two daughters, who are the ones who have suffered the most during this whole hard period of work and sacrifices,” Viñales continued explaining, who yesterday won by coming back, in 20 laps, 10 places, well, in the first turn, after a bad start where the clutch of his Apriliapassed in 11th position and that was starting from pole position.
He wanted to retire
“In Austria, I thought about quitting, about giving up, I thought about stopping and leaving everything and, now, I am at the top, at the top of MotoGP,” the Roses rider continued explaining. “That, what it teaches you, is that you should never give up, you should never give up, you have to trust yourself and fight, fight a lot, fight everything and continue growing. This has been a historic feat and I want to thank all the people who have given me their strength because, as I say, there have been moments when I have wanted to throw in the towel, but I have always had enough support to continue believing and continue. “Getting up every morning to give it my all.”
Maverick Viñales celebrates, with his Aprilia team, yesterday’s victory in Austin. / ALEJANDRO CERESUELA
Viñales explains that, in the morning test before the race, known as ‘warm-up’, the clutch on his Aprilia failed, it did not work well and, despite the work of his team, the truth is that it failed again at the start and throughout the entire race. “Despite the terrible start I made, despite the fact that ‘Pecco’ (Bagnaia) took me off the track, I knew I had the pace and the only thing I thought about is ‘come on, Maverick, you have ten drivers ahead and 20 laps, a driver every two laps and you arrive’. And the truth is that I have had plenty of laps, in which I have had to push because Pedro (Acosta) was coming behind very, very, strongly.”
Viñales acknowledged that he was, without a doubt, in the best moment of his sporting career, despite enjoying many glorious moments. “I don’t know, sometimes I have the feeling that I’m doing magic and today (yesterday) has been one of those days, yes, because of the way I felt on the bike and the comeback I made.” And about the costume, the mask and the ‘Batman’ cape, it’s just fun, entertainment.
“When I crossed the finish line on the first lap, I was 11th, but I knew I had the pace, so I thought ‘come on, Maverick, you have 10 drivers ahead and 20 laps, one driver every two laps and you arrive. And, in the end “I have some laps left over”
“Patience and conviction, that has been the formula to come back. And, above all, not to make mistakes because, in my situation, it would have been impossible to recover from another mistake,” the double winner from Austin continued to explain. “I only made a mistake with Miller, who immediately returned the overtake to me, but I forced him to go wide. It has been brutal, I have remembered many drivers who, coming from behind, had won.”
Viñales, who with the rest of the motorcycling World Championship caravan will stop in Jerez, in 11 days, to compete in the Spanish Grand Prix, the fourth scoring event of the season, is now third in the MotoGP World Championship, with three points less than the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati, second) and 24 behind the leader, the Madrid native Jorge Martín (Ducati). It is true that if the gearbox on his Aprilia had not broken on Sunday in Portimao, that is, in the long race, at this moment, perhaps, he would be leading the drivers’ championship.
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2024-04-14 22:51:54
#feel #magic
