Maverick Viñales

Maverick Viñales
Viñales in 2013
Nationality	Spanish
Born	12 January 1995 Figueres, Spain
Current team	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR MotoGP
Bike number	25
Website	http://www.maverick25.com/
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2015– Manufacturers Suzuki 2015 championship position 12th (97 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 19 0 0 0 0 107 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2014 Manufacturers Kalex 2014 championship position 3rd (274 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 18 4 9 1 5 274 Moto3 World Championship Active years 2012–2013 Manufacturers FTR Honda, KTM Championships 1 (2013) 2013 championship position 1st (323 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 32 8 22 7 4 530 125cc World Championship Active years 2011 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 0 2011 championship position 3rd (248 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 17 4 9 3 3 248

Maverick Viñales Ruiz^[1] (born 12 January 1995) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer from Spain, best known for winning the 2013 Moto3 World Championship.^[2][3] In 2015 he won the best rookie award in the MotoGP class.

Career

Early career

Born in Figueres, Viñales began competitive racing at the age of three in minimotos before moving onto motocross and eventually to circuit racing in 2002, competing in the Catalonian 50cc Championship, before several successful seasons in 70cc "metrakit" bikes.^[4] In 2007, he became champion of the Catalonian 125cc Championship, and repeated the feat in 2008, as well as winning the Mediterranean Trophy. Also in 2008, he competed at selected events in the German IDM 125GP Championship for RZT Racing aboard a Aprilia RS 125 R, achieving a best result of seventh. He moved up to the CEV Buckler 125GP series in 2009, with the Blusens-BQR team, partnering Miguel Oliveira in the team. Viñales finished the season as Rookie of the Year as he finished as the runner-up to Alberto Moncayo in the championship standings, by just four points. Viñales claimed four successive podiums during the season, including a victory by almost four seconds at Jerez.^[5] In 2010, Viñales and Oliveira joined different teams from Blusens, and battled it out for the championship title, and despite winning two races – both at Albacete – to Oliveira's four, Viñales won the title by two points after finishing each of the season's seven races on the podium.^[1] The two riders also battled for the European Championship title at Albacete, and again was decided in the favour of Viñales.^[6]

125cc/Moto3 World Championship

Viñales moved into the 125cc World Championship ahead of the 2011 season, partnering category veteran Sergio Gadea, who returned to the 125cc class after a season in Moto2, at the SuperMartxé VIP team after the Blusens-BQR team joined forces with American socialite Paris Hilton.^[7] He impressed during pre-season testing at Valencia,^[8] and finished ninth on his Grand Prix début in Qatar. After retiring at Jerez due to brake failure, Viñales finished fourth at Estoril, narrowly missing out on a podium to Johann Zarco in a photo-finish with the margin between the pair being 0.002 seconds.^[9] Two weeks later at Le Mans, Viñales took his first front-row grid start with third place, and after a race-long battle with championship leader Nicolás Terol, Terol made a mistake at the penultimate corner and Viñales cut inside him and took the victory by 0.048 seconds.^[10][11] His victory, at the age of 16 years, 123 days, made him the third-youngest rider to win a Grand Prix race behind Scott Redding and Marco Melandri.^[12] Three further victories during the season enabled Viñales to finish his rookie season in third place in the championship rankings.

Viñales at the 2012 Australian Grand Prix

Viñales went into the 2012 season as title favourite in the newly formed Moto3 championship. He won five races early on in the season, but his lack of consistency and misfortunes meant that he was not able to keep up with Sandro Cortese. Going into Malaysia with a slim chance of winning the title, he instead left his team and missed the race in Malaysia, allowing Cortese to win the title with Luis Salom managing to pass him for second. Viñales stated that he had not been informed of offers from other Moto3 teams and the team refused to move him up into Moto2, and instead made him sign an extension to his contract into 2014.

Viñales at the 2013 Aragon Grand Prix

Viñales returned for the final two races and secured third in the standings, losing the runner-up spot to Salom. He moved to Team Calvo for 2013 alongside Ana Carrasco. He won his first two races with Team Calvo back-to-back at the Spanish and French Grands Prix. From then on, he had several opportunities to win as he was leading on the last lap at San Marino, Aragon, and Philip Island, but on all occasions, he was overtaken by fellow Spanish rider Álex Rins. He was starting to fade from the title fight with two races to go, but at Motegi, title rivals Rins and Luis Salom met misfortune, as both crashed out of the race, whilst Viñales went on to finish second behind series rookie Álex Márquez, thrusting him back into the title fight. All three riders went into the final round with a gap of five points across all of them. Salom made a mistake and effectively ended his chances, whilst Rins and Viñales continued battling. In the end, Viñales took the race victory and Moto3 World Championship by a twelve-point margin over Rins.

Moto2 World Championship

Viñales signed a two-year contract with Pons Racing, due to expire at the end of 2015. He joined former title rival Luis Salom in the team.^[13] He took his first intermediate class victory at the Circuit of the Americas on 13 April 2014.^[14] He ultimately finished the season in third place in the riders' championship.

MotoGP

Viñales at the 2015 Catalan Grand Prix

In September 2014, it was announced that Viñales would move up to the MotoGP class for the 2015 season, riding for the factory Suzuki team on their return to the sport. He partnered Aleix Espargaró at the team.^[15]

Personal life

Viñales has a cousin, Isaac, who races in the Moto2 world championship with Tech 3.

Career statistics

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2011	125cc	Aprilia	Pev-Blusens-SMX-Paris Hilton	17	4	9	3	3	248	3rd
2012	Moto3	FTR Honda	Blusens Avintia	15	5	7	5	1	207	3rd
2013	Moto3	KTM	Team Calvo	17	3	15	2	3	323	1st
2014	Moto2	Kalex	Paginas Amarillas HP 40	18	4	9	1	5	274	3rd
2015	MotoGP	Suzuki	Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP	18	0	0	0	0	97	12th
2016	MotoGP	Suzuki	Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP	3	0	0	0	0	23	8th
Total				86	16	40	11	12	1159

* Season still in progress.

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	2011	2011 Qatar	2011 France	2011 France	17	4	9	3	3	248	0
Moto3	2012–2013	2012 Qatar	2012 Qatar	2012 Qatar	32	8	22	7	4	530	1
Moto2	2014	2014 Qatar	2014 Americas	2014 Americas	18	4	9	1	5	274	0
MotoGP	2015–2016	2015 Qatar			19	0	0	0	0	107	0

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
2011	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 9	SPA Ret	POR 4	FRA 1	CAT 2	GBR Ret	NED 1	ITA 3	GER 3	CZE 6	IND 2	RSM 7	ARA 3	JPN 4	AUS 8	MAL 1	VAL 1		3rd	248
2012	Moto3	FTR Honda	QAT 1	SPA 6	POR 2	FRA Ret	CAT 1	GBR 1	NED 1	GER 17	ITA 1	IND Ret	CZE 4	RSM 5	ARA DNS	JPN 2	MAL WD	AUS Ret	VAL 8		3rd	207
2013	Moto3	KTM	QAT 2	AME 2	SPA 1	FRA 1	ITA 3	CAT 3	NED 2	GER 3	IND 3	CZE 2	GBR 4	RSM 2	ARA 2	MAL 5	AUS 2	JPN 2	VAL 1		1st	323
2014	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 4	AME 1	ARG Ret	SPA 5	FRA 4	ITA 9	CAT 2	NED 2	GER 5	IND 2	CZE 6	GBR 3	RSM 4	ARA 1	JPN 2	AUS 1	MAL 1	VAL Ret	3rd	274
2015	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT 14	AME 9	ARG 10	SPA 11	FRA 9	ITA 7	CAT 6	NED 10	GER 11	IND 11	CZE Ret	GBR 11	RSM 14	ARA 11	JPN Ret	AUS 6	MAL 8	VAL 11	12th	97
2016	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT 6	ARG Ret	AME 4	SPA 6	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	AUT	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	6th*	33*

* Season still in progress.

References

1. "Campeonato de España de Velocidad, Circuito de Jerez – 7ª Prueba: Clasificación Final" (PDF). CEV Buckler. Dorna Sports. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
2. Beer, Matt (10 November 2013). "Maverick Vinales wins Moto3 title at final corner". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 10 November 2013.
3. "Viñales wins race and title at Valencia". MotoGP.com (Dorna Sports). 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
4. "SuperMartxé VIP by Paris Hilton Racing Team" (PDF). SuperMartXé. Piensa en Verde Agency. p. 11. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
5. "Campeonato de España de Velocidad, Circuito de Jerez – 125GP: Clasificacion oficial de carrera" (PDF). CEV Buckler. Dorna Sports. 7 June 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
6. "Spanish success in European Championship with victories for Viñales, Barragán and Morales". motogp.com (Dorna Sports). 24 October 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
7. "Paris Hilton to launch 125cc team". motogp.com (Dorna Sports). 13 December 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
8. "Valencia Test unleashes new 125cc crop". motogp.com (Dorna Sports). 15 February 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
9. Margaria, Alice (1 May 2011). "Terol walks to Estoril win". GPone (Buffer Overflow srl). Retrieved 17 May 2011.
10. Cambio, Tom (15 May 2011). "Viñales snatches his first 125GP win from Terol". Motor Cycle News (Bauer Media Group). Retrieved 17 May 2011.
11. "Viñales snatches stunning maiden win from Terol in Le Mans". motogp.com (Dorna Sports). 15 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
12. "Precocious talent Viñales comes to the fore". motogp.com (Dorna Sports). 18 May 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
13. "Salom, Vinales sign two-year Pons deals". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 11 September 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
14. "Vinales takes control for maiden Moto2 win". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 13 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
15. "Suzuki return to MotoGP with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales in 2015". MotoGP.com (Dorna Sports). 30 September 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.

External links

• Official website
• Profile on motogp.com