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Left impressed with facilites at Qatar Motorsports Academy, Spanish Grand Prix rider Maverick Vinales, who won the rookie of the year title in MotoGP in 2015, and has been a former Moto3 world champion in 2013, decided to train in Qatar and also do mental training at the Aspire Academy. Here in an interview, the 24-year-old, opens up on what made him make up his mind. ExcerptscTypeface:>
You arrived at the last race 3rd in the championship, having won two races and had quite a positive second half of the season. How do you evaluate your year?
Well, I have to say that I’m very satisfied. This year is ending in a very different way than the previous two years, when we started the season very good, at a really good level, and then slowly the level we had decreased as the season progressed. But this year is totally opposite. After race six or seven GPs, we only go up, go up, and go up. So actually I feel really good with the bike and inside the team. I’m really calm. Right now I’m working, I think, in the best way I can work. I can feel that I’m quite satisfied about this season.
You have moved to Qatar. Why?
I believe that at this point I have to take a step forward physically and mentally. During the celebration of the Qatar GP at the beginning of the season, I saw the facilities of the Qatar Motorsports Academy and I was impressed. I spoke with the responsible of the circuit and they open the door for me to use these facilities anytime I wanted. I thought about the opportunity of being able to ride bikes normally in winter when in Europe we mostly have to train indoors, so I decided to move to Doha when Andorra (Independent Principality) is covered in snow.
I have already gotten everything organized and I have been able to train with the Qatar Motorsports Academy coaches and I have to say that it is unbelievably good. Also there are very experienced riders who also can help you. Most of them are ex-GP riders, which means they go fast, and I need riders that push me. If we overtake each other and we take ourselves down, we are very friendly. We don’t have any problem. That’s important. Because, at the end in the GPs you do the same. It’s with other bikes, but it is the same competitiveness.
You mean they can teach you?!
We are not perfect. We have to improve every day. Every day, every lap, you have to make an improvement in this world. So for me being inside the Qatar Motorsports Academy means improving, improving, improving… Every day. That’s my target.
We are also working with Aspire. It’s a highly technological training academy that has incredible facilities and world-top professionals working there. I think there I can take another of these steps I have told you during this interview. In this case the steps are physically and mentally.
Can you give more details about this Aspire Academy?
We have just started to develop the programme for motorcycle riders. At this moment they are investigating to find the exercises that will help me to be better on the bike.
This is very important because there is in not any sport that equals the characteristic of riding a bike.
So I think that at Aspire I will have the chance to work in a very specific training program related to what we do when we ride a MotoGP bike.
Where I have already noticed the work we have been doing with Aspire is on the mental side. They are very good in this area. To stay mentality focused is very important.
In which way have you mentally improved?
I’m now capable of staying calm when we are going through tough moments, for example. The kind of advices that will help to improve my life… Not only in racing life, also in private life too.
You arrived at the last race 3rd in the championship, having won two races and had quite a positive second half of the season. How do you evaluate your year?
Well, I have to say that I’m very satisfied. This year is ending in a very different way than the previous two years, when we started the season very good, at a really good level, and then slowly the level we had decreased as the season progressed. But this year is totally opposite. After race six or seven GPs, we only go up, go up, and go up. So actually I feel really good with the bike and inside the team. I’m really calm. Right now I’m working, I think, in the best way I can work. I can feel that I’m quite satisfied about this season.
You have moved to Qatar. Why?
I believe that at this point I have to take a step forward physically and mentally. During the celebration of the Qatar GP at the beginning of the season, I saw the facilities of the Qatar Motorsports Academy and I was impressed. I spoke with the responsible of the circuit and they open the door for me to use these facilities anytime I wanted. I thought about the opportunity of being able to ride bikes normally in winter when in Europe we mostly have to train indoors, so I decided to move to Doha when Andorra (Independent Principality) is covered in snow.
I have already gotten everything organized and I have been able to train with the Qatar Motorsports Academy coaches and I have to say that it is unbelievably good. Also there are very experienced riders who also can help you. Most of them are ex-GP riders, which means they go fast, and I need riders that push me. If we overtake each other and we take ourselves down, we are very friendly. We don’t have any problem. That’s important. Because, at the end in the GPs you do the same. It’s with other bikes, but it is the same competitiveness.
You mean they can teach you?!
We are not perfect. We have to improve every day. Every day, every lap, you have to make an improvement in this world. So for me being inside the Qatar Motorsports Academy means improving, improving, improving… Every day. That’s my target.
We are also working with Aspire. It’s a highly technological training academy that has incredible facilities and world-top professionals working there. I think there I can take another of these steps I have told you during this interview. In this case the steps are physically and mentally.
Can you give more details about this Aspire Academy?
We have just started to develop the programme for motorcycle riders. At this moment they are investigating to find the exercises that will help me to be better on the bike.
This is very important because there is in not any sport that equals the characteristic of riding a bike.
So I think that at Aspire I will have the chance to work in a very specific training program related to what we do when we ride a MotoGP bike.
Where I have already noticed the work we have been doing with Aspire is on the mental side. They are very good in this area. To stay mentality focused is very important.
In which way have you mentally improved?
I’m now capable of staying calm when we are going through tough moments, for example. The kind of advices that will help to improve my life… Not only in racing life, also in private life too.
