Tissot Grand Prix of Doha: Vinales expects tough challenge in second MotoGP week

Maverick Vinales, winner of the opening round of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship last Sunday, won’t go into this week’s second round in a complacent mood. The second round of the championship - Tissot Grand Prix of Doha - kicks off at the iconic Losail International Circuit (LIC) with the first free practice sessions taking place today. Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) yesterday headlined the top six riders from last week’s opening round he won ahead of Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) and pole winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team).

Defending world champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) were also present at the pre-event news conference. Last year, MotoGP fans saw five circuits host back-to-back Grands Prix and only the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto witnessed the same winner twice in a row. Points leader Vinales yesterday said no two race weekends are the same. “No! It’s never perfect, very difficult to be perfect at all the tracks,” Vinales said yesterday. “We have to improve and do something different this weekend. Not every weekend is the same, we saw last year that when there was two weekends in a row, everything changed a lot. So we have to be ready for any situation. Anyway, we know we have a good potential and we will try to fix it if we cannot go at the maximum,” the popular Spaniard added. “I think all the riders can make a step, we will also try to make a step. It is very important to improve day by day and for sure all the riders siting here, and in the top 10, will be faster. We will try to be a little bit faster, and we will see. "What we can understand is the tyre demands are very high, we need to manage really well and for sure we will work on that during the weekend,” he said. Third-place finisher in Qatar Bagnaia and Zarco will be hoping to manage the rear tyres better so they can put up a fight in the closing stages of the second round on Sunday. “I think it’s as Maverick says, the construction of the tyre is always hard to manage. My race, staying second, me and Pecco and then try to follow Maverick I think helped me a lot to be competitive until the end and even have…. Mir at the end overtook me, almost at the end of the last lap and this gave me the possibility to overtake him again,” Zarco said yesterday.