Maverick Viñales

Maverick Viñales Ruiz (born 12 January 1995) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer from Spain, best known for winning the 2013 Moto3 World Championship. In 2015 he won the best rookie award in the MotoGP class.

Born in Figueres, Viñales began competitive racing at the age of three in minimotos before moving onto motocross and eventually to circuit racing in 2002, competing in the Catalonian 50cc Championship, before several successful seasons in 70cc "metrakit" bikes. In 2007, he became champion of the Catalonian 125cc Championship, and repeated the feat in 2008, as well as winning the Mediterranean Trophy. Also in 2008, he competed at selected events in the German IDM 125GP Championship for RZT Racing aboard an Aprilia RS 125 R, achieving a best result of seventh. He moved up to the CEV Buckler 125GP series in 2009, with the Blusens-BQR team, partnering Miguel Oliveira in the team. Viñales finished the season as Rookie of the Year as he finished as the runner-up to Alberto Moncayo in the championship standings, by just four points. Viñales claimed four successive podiums during the season, including a victory by almost four seconds at Jerez. In 2010, Viñales and Oliveira joined different teams from Blusens, and battled it out for the championship title, and despite winning two races – both at Albacete – to Oliveira's four, Viñales won the title by two points after finishing each of the season's seven races on the podium. The two riders also battled for the European Championship title at Albacete, and again was decided in the favour of Viñales.

2011

Viñales moved into the 125cc World Championship ahead of the 2011 season, partnering category veteran Sergio Gadea, who returned to the 125cc class after a season in Moto2, at the SuperMartxé VIP team after the Blusens-BQR team joined forces with American socialite Paris Hilton. He impressed during pre-season testing at Valencia, and finished ninth on his Grand Prix début in Qatar. After retiring at Jerez due to brake failure, Viñales finished fourth at Estoril, narrowly missing out on a podium to Johann Zarco in a photo-finish with the margin between the pair being 0.002 seconds. Two weeks later at Le Mans, Viñales took his first front-row grid start with third place, and after a race-long battle with championship leader Nicolás Terol, Terol made a mistake at the penultimate corner and Viñales cut inside him and took the victory by 0.048 seconds. His victory, at the age of 7008515548800000000♠16 years, 123 days, made him the third-youngest rider to win a Grand Prix race behind Scott Redding and Marco Melandri. Three further victories during the season enabled Viñales to finish his rookie season in third place in the championship rankings and he wins the rookie of the year award.

2012

Viñales at the 2012 Australian Grand Prix

Viñales went into the 2012 season as title favourite in the newly formed Moto3 championship. He won five races early on in the season, but his lack of consistency and misfortunes meant that he was not able to keep up with Sandro Cortese. Going into Malaysia with a slim chance of winning the title, he instead left his team and missed the race in Malaysia, allowing Cortese to win the title with Luis Salom managing to pass him for second. Viñales stated that he had not been informed of offers from other Moto3 teams and the team refused to move him up into Moto2, and instead made him sign an extension to his contract into 2014.

Viñales at the 2013 Aragon Grand Prix

Viñales returned for the final two races and secured third in the standings, losing the runner-up spot to Salom.

2013

He moved to Team Calvo for 2013 alongside Ana Carrasco. He won his first two races with Team Calvo back-to-back at the Spanish and French Grands Prix. From then on, he had several opportunities to win as he was leading on the last lap at San Marino, Aragon, and Philip Island, but on all occasions, he was overtaken by fellow Spanish rider Álex Rins. He was starting to fade from the title fight with two races to go, but at Motegi, title rivals Rins and Luis Salom met misfortune, as both crashed out of the race, whilst Viñales went on to finish second behind series rookie Álex Márquez, thrusting him back into the title fight. All three riders went into the final round with a gap of five points across all of them. Salom made a mistake and effectively ended his chances, whilst Rins and Viñales continued battling. In the end, Viñales took the race victory and Moto3 World Championship by a twelve-point margin over Rins.

2014

Viñales signed a two-year contract with Pons Racing, due to expire at the end of 2015. He joined former title rival Luis Salom in the team. He took his first intermediate class victory at the Circuit of the Americas on 13 April 2014. He ultimately finished the season in third place in the riders' championship with four wins and nine podiums. He also wins the rookie of the year award.

Viñales at the 2015 Catalan Grand Prix

In September 2014, it was announced that Viñales would move up to the MotoGP class for the 2015 season, riding for the factory Suzuki team on their return to the sport. He partnered Aleix Espargaró at the team.

2015

Viñales had a very good Motogp season with the factory Suzuki team which was the comeback year for the Japanese manufacturer. Scoring in 16 out of 18 races on a struggling bike makes Viñales a consistent and notable rider. He finished the season at the 12th place winning the rookie of the year award.

2016

The 2016 season is proving a successful season for both Viñales and the factory Suzuki team. Viñales finished 3rd for his first MotoGP podium in France. After Jorge Lorenzo moved to the Ducati team, Viñales was signed for 2017 and 2018 season for the factory Yamaha team. Viñales registered his first ever MotoGP win in the British Grand Prix, moving to 4th in championship at the same time.

Viñales has a cousin, Isaac, who races in the Moto2 world championship with Tech 3.

By season

By class

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)