Maverick Vinales has discussed his decision to leave Aprilia and his goals for the remaining 10 Grand Prix weekends with the Italian manufacturer.
Maverick Vinales recently opened up on his decision to move away from Aprilia in favour of KTM. The Spaniard shocked the whole paddock when he decided to leave the factory Aprilia garage for Tech3 KTM. However, Vinales has felt his journey with Aprilia has come to a natural end after winning in Austin, and he needs a new challenge.
"With the victories, I have closed the circle so my objective with Aprilia is done. I feel totally free to go away," Vinales told MotoGP.com.
During his MotoGP career, Vinales has won with Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia. This made him the only rider to win with three manufacturers in the MotoGP era. Vinales' move to KTM will allow him to potentially win with four manufacturers.
"I think I can be the only one in history to win with four bikes," Vinales continued. "Obviously, it is a really good objective. It is a gamble what I did, but I believe in myself and my instincts told me to go for it, I have no fear."
"I feel there has been something where I cannot shine like I shined in Austin. I need to find that, that is my motivation. Basically, my move was based on that."
After discussing his move away from Aprilia and his future with KTM Vinales shifted his thoughts back to the 2024 season and the job at hand. The 29-year-old believes Aprilia can close the gap to Ducati in the second half of the season, but they must improve their late race pace.
"We need to understand why in Europe only one manufacturer made a big step ahead, and we were unable to. I am very curious to see if, in the second part of the season, we are able to close that gap.
"Consistency I think is the big difference, they are able to constantly put in good lap times, especially in the race and we are missing this in the second part of the race."
Finally, Vinales stated his aims for his final half-season with Aprilia. Saying he wants to fight for a top-three finish in the Championship.
"We will give them a fight. That is our target," Vinales concluded by adding, "I think we are the only ones that can do it. Saying goodbye (to Aprilia) with a top three will be fantastic, I am dreaming maybe a bit too much because I need to beat really big names, but it will be really cool."
