Yamaha rider maverick Viรฑales is eager to claim his first premier class MotoGP victory in Malaysia this coming weekend when the MotoGP paddock get together for the penultimate round of the 2017 championship season.
In previous years the young Spaniard has climbed onto the podium on two occasions, claiming a 125cc win in 2011 and first place in the Moto2 race in 2014. Last year he secured sixth place, his best premier class placement in Sepang, which he is determined to improve on this year.
Vinales currently holds third in the championship rankings and is mathematically unable to secure the Rider Title, with a 50-point gap to first place and two races to spare. Instead he will be pushing to claim second place in the standings by bridging the 17-point gap to the rider ahead of him in the rankings.
โAfter the podium in Australia we are very motivated to go to Malaysia, itโs a circuit with very different climate conditions to those we've had on Phillip Island and in Japan - itโs always very hot and that makes it a very physically demanding race,โ he said.
โThe bike is working very good now, so itโs a little bit disappointing to arrive in Sepang without the mathematical possibility to win the title, but now securing second place in the standings is our target. We have to try to be as strong as we were at the beginning of the season and be on the podium again in Sepang. We will work hard to achieve it.โ
