Maverick Viñales dominated the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas, and not even falling from pole position to 11th place on the first lap prevented him from being the winner. Such a performance from the rider and Aprilia earned praise from Carlo Pernat.
In his usual analysis for the website GPOne.com, the rider manager highlighted the performance of Aprilia and the Spanish rider, considering that the Noale manufacturer is now capable of facing Ducati on equal terms:
– An entire weekend that Aprilia dominated, both from a technical and a rider point of view. Viñales seems like a completely different rider now; he’s consistent and regrets the missed opportunity in Portimão, where he lost points. I believe that at this moment, Aprilia has a bike that can compete with Ducati, partly because of Viñales’ dominance.
Regarding the winner’s performance, Pernat believes that if it weren’t for the less-than-stellar start, Viñales could have finished comfortably ahead: ‘He dominated the entire weekend and had a fantastic race with incredible pace. He recovered from a poor start from 11th place and climbed to the top of the standings. With a better start, he could have won with a 4-second gap. This was the highlight of this GP’.