Maverick Viñales

"Vinales" redirects here. For the Cuban town, see Viñales. For the Cuban valley, see Viñales Valley.
Maverick Viñales

Nationality  Spanish
Born 12 January 1995
Figueres (Spain)
Current team Team SUZUKI ECSTAR MotoGP
Bike number 25
Website http://maverick25racing.com/
Motorcycle racing career statistics
MotoGP World Championship
Active years2015
ManufacturersSuzuki
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
3 0 0 0 0 15
Moto2 World Championship
Active years2014
ManufacturersKalex
2014 Championship position3rd (274 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
18 4 9 1 5 274
Moto3 World Championship
Active years20122013
ManufacturersFTR Honda, KTM
Championships1 (2013)
2013 Championship position1st (323 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
32 8 22 7 4 530
125cc World Championship
Active years2011
ManufacturersAprilia
Championships0
2011 Championship position3rd (248 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
17 4 9 3 3 248
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Viñales and the second or maternal family name is Ruiz.

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]

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 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 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.

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 will partner Aleix Espargaró at the team.[15]

Personal life

Viñales has a cousin, Isaac, who races in the Moto3 world championship with Team Calvo; the team Maverick won the 2013 championship with.

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 3 0 0 0 0 15* 10th*
Total 70 16 40 11 12 1067

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 2015 Qatar 3 0 0 0 0 15 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
FRA
ITA
CAT
NED
GER
IND
CZE
GBR
RSM
ARA
JPN
AUS
MAL
VAL
10th* 15*

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "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

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Alberto Moncayo
CEV Buckler 125GP
Champion

2010
Succeeded by
Alex Rins
Preceded by
Marcel Schrötter
European 125cc
Champion

2010
Succeeded by
Romano Fenati
Preceded by
Sandro Cortese
Moto3 World Champion
2013
Succeeded by
Álex Márquez