Maverick Vinales: “You are spinning in fifth gear?” - tyre drop ends Assen charge

For the first time in his KTM career, Maverick Vinales suffered a major drop in rear tyre grip, during the closing stages of the Dutch MotoGP.

The Tech3 rider had climbed from tenth to fifth at Assen and but lost touch with Pedro Acosta as tyre issues forced him to settle for the position.

“I'm quite happy, obviously I still have a lot to learn with the bike,” Vinales said. “I had a really good rhythm from lap 10 to lap 17. I could ride quite fast. I could see the guys in front were not really going away.

“Then I had a massive drop on the rear. So I couldn't really push anymore.

“Sometimes you need to accept [where you are] and today is one of those days where I had nothing left in the last five laps! Nothing. I just tried to arrive home and do the best I could.”

“This bike is so powerful!”

Vinales admitted the scale of the grip loss caught him off guard:

“Regarding the tyre life, it’s the first track where I’ve faced it. In other tracks, normally on Sunday, it’s quite OK - I don't have a drop. But here, there are many long corners, and this bike is so powerful!

“When you shift 4-5-6, the engine is massive. I said, ‘come on, you are spinning in fifth gear?’ I never had that in my life!”

He continued: “Maybe I need to ride a little bit more carefully, because it wasn’t on the edge of the tyre, it was on the traction side. So maybe I need to avoid this area a little more.

“I'm still too new to the bike, so I need experience.”

On the plus side, vibration issues were not a factor at Assen.

“About the vibration – here it was quite OK. Surprising, because normally this is one of the tracks where you have chatter.”

With KTM’s qualifying performance still a limiting factor, Vinales emphasised the importance of improving Saturdays:

“We know we have a good potential, we just need to make it easier for ourselves in qualifying.

“But it's a lot of motivation when, even if you don't have a good Saturday morning, you can really turn the weekend around.”

Vinales "hungry" for podiums and wins

While Vinales held fifth, Acosta briefly challenged for third mid-race before finishing 3.4s behind Francesco Bagnaia in fourth – matching KTM’s best official MotoGP result of the season.

Vinales had previously been classified second in Qatar before receiving a post-race tyre pressure penalty.

“Obviously we are really hungry for going to the front, taking podiums and victories, but I think we need to improve and that's clear,” Vinales said.

“Still, I need a little bit more time with the bike – especially for one lap [qualifying].

“We will arrive, but we need to be patient, and we can do it.”

Acosta is eighth and Vinales tenth in the current MotoGP world championship standings after ten rounds.