KTM revealed Maverick Vinales’ past ‘complications’ in MotoGP

Maverick Vinales says riding the KTM has made him “understand why it was so complicated for me to overtake” on his previous MotoGP bikes.

The 10-time MotoGP race winner joined KTM with the Tech3 team at the start of the 2025 season, having previously ridden Aprilia, Yamaha and Suzuki bikes.

Maverick Vinales has largely been KTM’s top rider in what has been a tough campaign for the Austrian marque, with the Spaniard finishing second on the road in the Qatar Grand Prix before a tyre pressure penalty demoted him.

From the moment he jumped on the KTM, Vinales noted that he felt like he had a bike he could fight with due to the bike’s powerful engine.

In an exclusive interview with Crash.net, Vinales reveals that the RC16 has made it clear to him why “it was so complicated” for him to overtake on his previous bikes.

“Basically, I thought ‘ok, now I understand why it was so complicated for me to overtake’,” he said when asked if riding the KTM made him question how he won on slower bikes.

“Because for me now it’s easy to overtake; I can overtake wherever I like.

“Especially if I’m fast I can overtake in the next corner if I want.

“But, with the Yamaha or Aprilia it was so hard because always I was like four, five bikes behind.

“Yeah, I was trying it and I would end up in the gravel! Now it’s quite easy, to be honest.

“That’s been the thing I’ve understood on the KTM - this is different to battle with.”

Aprilia experience helping Maverick Vinales adapt to KTM

Despite a tricky pre-season phase on the new KTM, Vinales has been able to find a good base set-up on the RC16 that the marque’s other riders have since begun to follow.

It’s in contrast to when Vinales joined Aprilia late in the 2021 season following his acrimonious split from Yamaha.

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Adapting to the V4 Aprilia having only ever ridden inline-four bikes to that point took Vinales time, with his first podium not coming until his 16th race on the RS-GP.

Asked if this experience has helped him approach the KTM challenge differently, he said: “The experience is a plus always in life.

“And obviously when I jumped onto the Aprilia, that was massive.

“That was something I never expected, because I remember in Misano… the Yamaha was very fast at Misano.

“I did many pole positions, winning races, being on the podium.

“And I never felt not even one bump on this track [on the Yamaha]. When I jumped onto the Aprilia, I felt every single bump on the track, I said ‘maybe they changed the track or something’.

“It was a different track! So, this was a nice experience and I understood really well with the KTM. For me, it was amazing.

“I went to sleep [thinking] ‘if Misano is bumpy, I don’t know what the bumpy tracks will be like’ because it was so shocking for me.

“But this experience helped me a lot in KTM to understand that there is a process.

“Of course you already want to be from the first race fighting at the front. But there is a process that you cannot jump.

“You need to do it. If it’s quicker or not, it depends on the situation. There is an adaptation to the bike, to the engine.

“For example, I passed from cable gas [throttle connection] to electronic gas. You need to adapt.”