Blaž Štremfelj
Maverick Vinales in scoring the championship behind the leader Joan Mirom lags behind 19 points, but he will start the race for the European Grand Prix from the pits, as he had to use an additional sixth powertrain. It's before that Yamaha received a penalty for using illegal engines on GP of Spain in Jerez, where Vinales lost one engine due to a breakdown in free practice, and two more later, when it became clear that the commissioners could take action due to the installed non-approved control valves.
The Spaniard therefore had to drive most of this season with two aggregates, to the detriment of his form in qualifying and racing, and this is a severe blow in the season when he is the toughest competitor, Marc Marquez, absent due to injury.
"The season is lost, but because it's not March, it was a great opportunity," he said Vinales. “Honda and Marc are on a completely different level, which they show from year to year. This year was a perfect opportunity to win the title, but already in the 2017 season we lost the title due to the same mistakes as this year. ”
A factory Yamaha racer said he was paying for illegal engines in Jerez tax all season already after the race in Austria he knew it would be until the end of the season hard to endure without an additional unit, as the kilometers on the remaining racing weekends were easy for two engines too much. According to him, it is a big blow also Yamaha’s inconsistent form, as some races where there were no conditions written on the skin of his motorcycle were real Nightmare, but in other races he didn't have the right feeling most of the time.
In the first race v Valencia, where he will have a hard time if he wants to prevent a sharp increase in the championship gap, says he won’t take much of a risk. "I won't risk it if the motorcycle isn't good," he said. “If I don’t manage to drive fast laps to catch the leaders, then I won’t risk falling and getting injured. As always, I will try to achieve the most, but it will be difficult to achieve a good result. Without a good feeling, I won't be able to get higher than 14th or 15th place anyway, and two points means nothing. ”
Sleep he added that he is a bit worried about the lack of training on the dry track, as it seems that the race will also take place in dry conditions.
