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While Enea Bastianini impressively stormed from a 20th place on the grid to a 9th place within 26 laps at the Thai GP eight days ago and overtook eleven times in the second half of the race, Maverick Viñales fell short of all expectations. The nine-time MotoGP winner (with Suzuki, Yamaha, and Aprilia) had made a very promising impression with his 9th place at the Buriram test and, therefore, had high hopes for a Top 10 finish in the first MotoGP World Championship round in 2025.
But the KTM RC16 newcomer wasn't that impressive in qualifying (with an 18th place) nor in the two races on Saturday and Sunday in which he finished in 14th place (+ 18.9 sec) and 16th place (+ 28.7 sec).
Red Bull KTM Tech3 team owner Hervé Poncharal had strong hopes for Viñales at the start of the season because, unlike Bastianini, the Spanish rider has ridden various makes of bikes in the past and has adapted his riding style several times, while the Bestia has only had experience in the MotoGP with the Ducati Desmosedici from 2021 to 2024.
Poncharal defends Viñales’ performance in the Thai GP because Maverick played it safe with his tire choice on Sunday and, unlike Bastianini, he didn't opt for the soft/soft version.
"Enea was brave and mounted the soft compound on the front and rear," Hervé Poncharal said. "It was a gamble, but it finally paid off. Maverick chose the hard front. This tire didn't give him a good feeling. He, therefore, admitted in his media debrief that Enea made the smarter decision. Up until Sunday, Maverick and Enea's performances were always close. But I'm confident and I repeat, I believe in Maverick! It's true that he feels better on certain tracks than on others, but every top rider wants to beat his teammate first, so Maverick will be going to Las Termas and Texas with even more motivation after the result in Buriram."
And let's not forget: Maverick Viñales dominated the 2024 MotoGP event at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin in a Marc Márquez style: the Aprilia factory rider was first in qualifying, in the Sprint, and in the Grand Prix on Sunday.
"On Sunday, a week ago, I spent time with Enea and Maverick at the airport before flying back to Europe," Poncharal said. "And, when I said good-bye, and said 'Ciao, see you in Buenos Aires', Maverick wasn't depressed. He was annoyed, but he's convinced that he can also ride up in front with the KTM."
"I'm quite confident," Poncharal continued. "I don't want to make any predictions for the next races now, because that's difficult, and Ducati is still very strong, perhaps stronger than ever. But I'd like to point out that surprises do happen, again and again. Everyone expected that Bezzecchi would overshadow everyone at Aprilia in the absence of Jorge Martin, but a rookie who doesn't talk a lot achieved very impressive results in round one. We're talking about Ai Ogura. Bezzecchi did well nonetheless. And it would've been interesting to see what a fit world champion, Jorge Martin, could've been able to achieved on the factory Aprilia, because the Aprilia looked very impressive in Buriram. Ogura put Pecco Bagnaia under pressure in both races! Raúl Fernández was also fast but, like Maverick, he wasn't happy with the choice of front tire on Sunday. So we can see that all the riders are close together, and we have to keep working and make an effort. We have to have trust in our riders and better adapt our bike to the riders, step by step."
"We're seeing progress at KTM. The RC16 is being adapted better to the wishes, needs, and riding styles of each individual riders," Poncharal stated in an interview with GPOne.com. "We have four riders with different riding styles. That's why I'm happy that our two new KTM riders are also making progress and are no longer overshadowed so clearly by Pedro Acosta."
