Viñales salvages 13th in European GP, Rossi out with technical issue

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales‘ main goal for today was to collect as many championship points as possible at the Gran Premio de Europa, and he took 13th place. Valentino Rossi was riding in the busy mid-pack when an issue with the bike ended his race early.

Viñales had to start from pit lane, only being allowed to head out after the other riders passed the exit of the pit road. Despite the early disadvantage, the home hero soon made his way up the order due to early crashes and retirements of opponents.

He soon found his way to 15th place, within the points. With 15 laps to go, he gained another place, spurring him on to keep pushing and salvage crucial championship points. He was rapidly closing in on Stefan Bradl in front of him, reducing the over-9s gap to just 1.053s as he crossed the finish line. He ended the race in 13th place, 25.403s from first.

Rossi had a strong start from 18th on the grid and followed it up by choosing the outside line in the opening corners, picking up multiple positions. He finished the first lap in 13th place. The Italian was keen on progressing through the busy mid-pack, but an issue with his bike ended his challenge on lap 5.

After today‘s race, Viñales is now fourth in the standings, 41 points from the top of the leaderboard. Rossi remains in 15th place, with a 104-point gap to first. Yamaha is third in the constructor standings, and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP ranks fifth in the team classification.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team will return to action at the same Ricardo Tormo track next week for the Grand Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana.

Maverick Viñales:

Today‘s race was always going to be difficult. The bike wasn‘t perfect, because we had so little time to prepare for a dry race, but that is just the way it is. Finishing in 13th place when starting from pit lane is not horrible, but it‘s not fantastic either, especially considering the championship. But I don‘t want to think about that too much. I prefer to focus on improving the bike and trying to enjoy the second race in Valencia and the upcoming round in Portimão.

Valentino Rossi:

For me personally, not being able to finish the race today is a great shame, because I needed these 27 laps, just to do a race again. I also needed them to collect data to understand how to be stronger for next weekend’s race here in Valencia. I was there in the race today, and I was just trying to understand how to ride in the best way, but unfortunately the bike stopped. The situation is not easy in Valencia. Last week, in Aragon, Yamaha won with Franco, but we are struggling to find grip here. It wasn’t a great weekend for me to find a way to improve, but we will see what we can do next week.