Yamaha's Maverick Viรฑales put in a consistent ride at a very wet Twin Ring Motegi in Japan on Sunday afternoon to secure ninth place.
The Spaniard had a great start to Yamaha's home race, riding midfield through the spray from a 14th-place starting position to eighth on the opening lap. Although he had to let Alex Rins and Valentino Rossi get past him on lap 3 as he warmed his tyres, this setback was only temporary.
The Spaniard overtook Jorge Lorenzo three laps later, while Rossi crashed out of the race, and reclaimed eighth place. He gradually started to up his pace as his confidence grew at the very wet Motegi track, but soon realised Aleix Espargarรณ, riding directly in front of him, was too far ahead.
In the second half of the race Viรฑales focused his attention on defending his eighth place from Lorenzo, who arrived at the back of his Yamaha with six laps to go.
The number-25 rider put his head down, but was unable to hold off his compatriot. He crossed the line in ninth place, 36.575s from the front.
"I expected things to be a little bit worse, because in the morning I was trying to be in the top-15. Finally, in the race, I pushed a lot in the beginning,โ he said. โI tried to risk only the necessary, trying to give our best. This was the maximum and we will have to think now about Australia.โ
