Vinales 'curious' to see if 'gamble' pays off

"It was always the same; good qualifying, but bad races," said Maverick Vinales, who is now curious to see if a set-up 'gamble' pays off in Sunday's Styrian MotoGP.

"We need a setting that is maybe not incredible for one lap, but good for the race, to give me the chance to fight.

Vinales 'curious' to see if 'gamble' pays off

"It was always the same; good qualifying, but bad races," said Maverick Vinales, who is now curious to see if a set-up 'gamble' pays off in Sunday's Styrian MotoGP.

"We need a setting that is maybe not incredible for one lap, but good for the race, to give me the chance to fight.

The Monster Yamaha rider took his new set-up to sixth in qualifying, just 0.198s from KTM's Pol Espargaro, but the race will be a step into the unknown.

"For sure it's a gamble for us," he said. "Now it will be important to try it in the race to see if this is the solution or not."

After struggling to tenth in last Sunday's Red Bull Ring event, not helped by a slipping clutch in the early laps, Vinales is seeking "better braking and better acceleration.

"Normally we have a lot of grip in practice, then in the race it seems very complicated to accelerate.

"In the last race I suffered a lot on acceleration. So we will see if the new set-up gives us the same feeling as practice in the race. I'm quite curious to find out. I can't wait for the race to see if we've improved that point.

"Anyway, tomorrow we have a good opportunity and the important thing today was to be the best Yamaha, be near the front and then at least follow the top riders."

Vinales is currently third in the world championship behind Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha) and last Sunday's winner Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati).

Dovizioso will start eighth and Quartararo ninth.

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