Maverick Viñales enjoyed fruitful pre-season testing with Aprilia as he continues to get to grips with the RS-GP.

Having run in the top five at Sepang,  Viñales concluded three days in Indonesia eighth in the combined times, less than half a second adrift of Pol Espargaro’s 1’31.0 target and narrowly ahead of eight-time World Champion Marc Marquez.

The former Yamaha star has been openly confident of his potential with the Aprilia since moving from the M1 midway through 2021, a sentiment he continued to share from Mandalika despite concerns over track conditions and a degrading surface.

“It was good,” Vinales said of his progress at the new circuit. “We understand many things. Those three days were very positive for us because even of the struggle, was very important to be on a track when the grip is very low, to see how the bike was working.

“I can feel I'm much better on the race rhythm than one lap, especially because I just put one tyre and I didn't finish my second lap but I feel the way we are working is quite correct. Step by step I'm feeling better with the bike, still we need to understand, we need laps. I need also racing days, like racing weekends to see the procedure, how to work, especially when the bike is working just 40 minute sessions but I feel good with the bike.

“I feel optimistic because even if my feeling is not perfect, we are able to be inside the top five, especially on rhythm, so quite good. Honestly, I felt quite optimistic and also quite confident that we're going to find a better bike.

“For me will be a dream to win with three different manufacturers because I think I will be the only one in history to do it,” he confirmed of his goals with the new team. "Also to bring Aprilia on the top is one of my objectives, but we have to be realistic. Still we need a few tenths to be able to fight for the victory so we need to be with the feet on the ground. We know there is a long way to go. There is a long way of hard working and especially it's a long way to find a good setup especially for me.

“The bike was set up for a very different riding style. So still we are struggling in some areas, especially with the grip. In Sepang we were inside the top three especially on rhythm and here I think too, so this is very positive because in two very different tracks I'm able to be fast. Even for example, in Sepang I did many laps but here I arrive where we don't have laps, we don't have data. So it was a challenge for me with this new bike and it was good.”

For 2022, Aprilia is the only manufacturer left on the MotoGP grid with concessions, a fact that brings added assurance to the Spaniard rather than concerns.

“It brings me calmness,” Viñales confirmed. “Because I know if one weekend I'm not able to find a setup, we have many tests, we have many test days where we can take profit to find a better setup. We're gonna take the maximum profit of the benefits, which I think will be very, very positive, especially for the tracks we're gonna race maybe two, three weeks later on. To have already good feedback from a test is always very positive, but however I'm here to work very hard. I'm here especially to push myself at the maximum.

“Is a very demanding challenge because it's not easy to change from just a few races and ride here and be on the top, is quite complicated, but I think it's possible. Step by step I'm getting better on the bike and especially the team understands a little bit more what I need to be fast. So I think this three days here in Mandalika were much more profitable than the days we did in Sepang because in Sepang at the end was good grip. The bike in the grip can masquerade all the problems, here we are suffering on a different way but still I see the timesheets and we are there, so quite happy.”

Despite the concessions awarded to Aprilia, 2022’s schedule is a demanding one, and finding time to test could prove tricky.

“Before Qatar, there is no time because the bikes cannot arrive to Europe and then go to Qatar,” he explained. “But after America that will close these long way circuits, we will try to make tests for sure because I need. I need to understand the bike, I need laps. I always feel my potential can be much higher than what we are doing now but is a way of understanding the bike in a way that the team can set up the bike for my riding style. Those three days I understand a lot and especially we see the strong point of the bike and the lowest point of the bike. We are quite balanced so honestly I can't wait to be in Qatar because Qatar is a track where I always enjoy. I know really good how to go fast there and I think this bike will work well. If not, we will need to work very hard!

“For me consistency will be the key to bring the bike at the top,” Viñales continued. “Because if you do one race really good and the next one less good, you know you lost a little bit the way, you start changing the bike. So my wish is to have a constantly very similar bike and building up the confidence step by step.

“For me, I don't think is good to make one day the podium and then the next day tenth but strongly building a bike to be consistently top five and then going up, I think this is my wish. The previous year has been very complicated for me and I lost a little bit the confidence so I need to build it up.”