Vinales still with “nothing to lose” after recent resurgence

Maverick Vinales still feels he has nothing to lose in the current MotoGP campaign and will use the same approach which provided breakthrough results before the summer break for the Movistar Yamaha rider.

The Spaniard has surged up to fifth place in the riders’ standings thanks to his win in Assen coupled with second place at Sachsenring to move above team-mate Valentino Rossi as leading Yamaha rider in the championship by five points.

But with a 100-point deficit to MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez, Vinales feels there’s no point in changing his approach given the outlook on the title fight plus the recent success he’s found.

“I’m full of energy after ending the last two races before the summer break in a good way,” Vinales said. “The summer break was quite long because I was wanting to get on the bike because the month I had was really good. We come back with the same mentality with nothing to lose.

“We will try to push from the first lap. I feel really good, calm, we need to keep working to see where we can arrive come Sunday, our priority is to take the maximum and try to be I the front.”

With Yamaha enduring its toughest patch between the Brno and Aragon rounds last year, Vinales feels he can remain optimistic of avoiding a similar fate thanks to the overhaul in mentality and setup with his M1 which has led to his current mid-season fightback.

“I think it will be very different [this year],” he said. “We arrive in a very different way, the bike is working differently to last year, it is a very different bike.

“I feel I can take a lot of profit from it so I am curious to see. I feel great, at the maximum and I hope this second half of the season we can prove and show our potential.”