MotoGP: Viñales feeling incredible after debut victory

Maverick Viñales says he’s feeling incredible after a debut victory for the Movistar Yamaha team last night in Qatar, where he laid down a huge marker to the rest of the field by setting up a perfect last lap win over Andrea Dovizioso.

And that came even despite troublesome conditions that meant that the 22-year-old had to work for it!

“I feel incredible and it shows in the results. We did a great job during the whole weekend and we started good in the test, then in FP1 we were already feeling really good. The race was difficult, it started to rain and there was a bit of confusion because we didn‘t know what to do. The first laps were very challenging, the track was so slippery and I wanted to take it easy and stay calm.

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“I knew I had a good pace, so I tried to push at the very end of the race. There were many crashes at the front, so I waited for the right moment and finally we took the victory. The feeling when I crossed the line was incredible. As the first victory with Yamaha, it was even more important than the first MotoGP victory, because there was so much pressure. We were leading all the test, “You can do it”, and finally we did, so I‘m happy how I handled the pressure and also that the team worked really good.”

However, while the race might have gone according to plan for him, he says there’s still lots of room for improvement ahead of the next race in Argentina in two weeks’ time.

“I hope for a perfect start in Argentina. The start here was good, but I just went outside of the line and when Zarco came he crashed into me, so I had to pick up the bike and then Marquez and Dovi passed me so it was a bit chaotic on the early laps, but then I was able to concentrate. We have to continue like that and maintain this concentration.”

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