Maverick Vinales believes that his maiden win with Aprilia in MotoGP at the Americas Grand Prix boasts a “different value” to his victories with both Yamaha and Suzuki.
Having set a lap record and converted pole position into a Sprint success, Vinales recovered from a poor start which saw him drop to 11th to claim a commanding win.
The Spaniard required 13 laps to climb from that woeful start back to his position at the sharp end of the field with an overtake on rookie Pedro Acosta on the GasGas.
This win cemented Vinales’ place in the record books as he became the first rider in the MotoGP era to win a premier class grand prix with three separate manufacturers.
Vinales admitted that his latest achievement at the Circuit of the Americas provided special sentimental value due to where the Aprilia team was when he arrived in 2021.
“Obviously, the win with Aprilia has a different value because when I signed for them they were P15, P10, and looking how much we grew up this factory,” he told Autosport.
“Obviously we are a big factory. Still, we need time to improve and be more constant, but I see this year with a lot of potential in front of us.
“We must be very smart and very focused on the job, and especially things like [what] happened in Portimao [with the gearbox].
“It’s about getting more experience and more time in the front, and that confidence we build up.
“We have to continue, we are a big factory and big factories win races. We did it today, so we need to be very happy and very proud of the job we did.
“But obviously, it’s more difficult what I did right now because we came from the back and today we are on top.”
Question marks had been raised over Vinales following the unpleasant end to his Yamaha spell in mid-2021 and team-mate Aleix Espargaro’s wins the last two seasons.
However, Vinales has rebounded from rumours about his future to sit third in the Riders’ Championship, 24 points behind Pramac’s Jorge Martin, who leads the standings.
The ex-Yamaha rider now believes his Aprilia bike is not only fast when running at the front but also when bunched up in the pack in comparison to previous campaigns.
“Obviously in the past I didn’t have the weapon I have now, especially to overtake because you know very well I was struggling to be close to the other riders in the past,” he said.
“But how I have the bike right now, how I can really overbrake all the time, it seems that it’s not easy to pass but I can try it. And that’s fantastic.
“I have especially the weapon to try it and that’s huge because obviously you cannot always start and lead the race from the first corner.
“So, you must fight and all these guys are braking late, fighting. And I am there also, so this is fantastic.”
