Yamaha Officially Accuses Viñales Of Misconduct

[advrider]

Maverick Viñales will not compete in this weekend’s Styrian Gran Prix.  Startlingly, Yamaha is accusing its rider, who now sits in sixth place in the MotoGP championship, of purposely trying to damage his bike’s engine during the last race.

The Japanese company’s press release on the matter said:

Yamaha regrets to announce that Maverick Viñales’ entry to this weekend’s Austrian MotoGP event has been withdrawn by the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team.

The absence follows the suspension of the rider by Yamaha due to the unexplained irregular operation of the motorcycle by the rider during last weekend’s Styria MotoGP race.

Yamaha’s decision follows an in-depth analysis of telemetry and data over the last days.

Yamaha’s conclusion is that the rider’s actions could have potentially caused significant damage to the engine of his YZR-M1 bike which could have caused serious risks to the rider himself and possibly posed a danger to all other riders in the MotoGP race.

The rider will not be replaced at the Austrian GP.

Decisions regarding the future races will be taken after a more detailed analysis of the situation and further discussions between Yamaha and the rider.

Maverick Vinales may have already made his last MotoGP appearance as a Yamaha rider.

After the race, Viñales is quoted as saying:

“We changed the clutch. I made a normal start on the grid for the warm-up lap, but the bike stopped.  I’m happy that in the first race I was able to start well.  I was fighting at the front, but in the second race (re-start) the feeling was not the same.

We changed the tyres, and I don’t know why but the bike was spinning so much,  even on the main straight. I tried to go up the order, but then I had problems with the bike, and I stopped.”

Viñales’ last race for Yamaha?

So Viñales’ version places the blame squarely on the bike and Yamaha.  But telemetry and data don’t lie, and for Yamaha to have taken such an extreme measure, things are not looking good for the Spanish rider.

Could Yamaha’s and Viñales’ recent announcement that after five seasons of racing together, the two would part ways be a part of the issue?

Whatever the outcome, last week’s Styrian GP may have been Viñales’ last for Yamaha.

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