Spanish rider Maverick Viñales confirmed, during the official presentation act of the 2018 Yamaha bike, that he will stay at the team for, at least, two more years, until the end of the 2020 season.
After finishing his first season with Yamaha, Maverick Viñales announced yesterday that his contract with the Japanese manufacturer had just been extended for two more years.
The Spaniard, former Moto3 champion and MotoGP Rookie of the year in 2015, joined Movistar Yamaha MotoGP in 2017, following the departure of Jorge Lorenzo to Ducati. On the first stages of the season, his performance was astonishing. He won three races and led the championship.
But as the season went on, he began to struggle with his Yamaha and several bad results in a row left him out of the fight for the title earlier than expected. He finally finished third with three race wins, seven podium finishes and five Pole positions.
Now, Viñales has one year of experience with the team, and both rider and manufacturer can learn from their recent mistakes in order to fight for the titles again.
With this contract renewal, Viñales has secured one of the best bikes on the grid for the next three seasons. As for the other bike of the team, currently ridden by Valentino Rossi, the future is uncertain. The Italian rider ends his contract at the end of this year, and seems like he is yet to decide if he continues on the series or retires.
During the act, Viñales spoke about his renewal and his expectations for the upcoming season:
Maverick Viñales: “I feel really good inside the team, and I especially feel the desire to win, which is something I identify with and something I want. We make a good compromise and for both of us it will be special. So thank you to Yamaha because they’ve made my dreams come true – let’s see if this season we can do it again.”
“We’re trying different things, trying to improve, and with the experience from last year we’ve improved some of my weak points. I think I’ve done good winter training, so let’s see on the bike. Last year we chose everything fast, and maybe we didn’t choose the best. So this year we want to do a lot of laps and choose the best for the year. And it’ll be very important to improve in the rain.”