The bombshell from this morning’s Moto3 free practice at Sepang (with Jonas Folger the fastest rider) was that Maverick Vinales was not on track and by the end of the session and after a private meeting with Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, the Spanish teenager announced that he will no longer be continuing the season with his Avintia Blusens team.
Vinales has won five races this year and is second in the Moto3 standings behind Sandro Cortese, and during the Aragon GP it was announced that he renewed his contract with Avintia Blusen for another two seasons – one year in Moto3 and he was to switch to Moto2 in 2014, and with three races left in the season has quit his team and the reason behind the decision was that the team was unable to give him a competitive machine, it also seems that he has also dropped his manager (who is also Avintia’s sporting director) because he did not inform Vinales that he had two other offers.
UPDATE:The official MotoGP website has released two interviews following the split between Vinales and his Avintia Blusens team, one with Vinales who explains his motives behind his surprising gesture and another with Ricard Jove, team manager.
Maverick Vinales interview:Q.
Maverick, we were quite surprised not to see you on track this morning, what’s the situation?A.
We won’t take part in the race as the team hasn’t complied with the agreement we had.
Q.
However you’re under contract with the team…A.
Yeah, you can sign whatever you want, but when things just get worse and worse, you have to find solutions.
Q.
What did you request for those last three races, what pushed you to make this decision?A.
Since halfway through the season, they haven’t done all they could, I’m always giving my best – so I wanted to leave the team after those last three races and have a “clean” break-up, but they wouldn’t agree so today I’m heading home.
Q.
But the plan was to leave at the end of the season, not now…A.
Yeah, definitely – it’s always better to finish in a good way but if they want to be difficult then we will be difficult too.
I would have raced until the end of the season if they agreed to release me at the end of the year.
Q.
Is it all about not getting the bike you wanted or because you felt you weren’t supported by the team as much as you wished?A.
It’s not that much about the support, but I think it’s a second division team – I have to try and win the Championship next year and I don’t think I could do it with this team, so that’s why I took this decision.
——————————————————–Ricard Jové Interview“He first told us last night that he did not want to continue until the end of the season because he was unhappy with the bike, and we at first thought it was just him saying something like any other rider….
well, in the end he didn’t turn up and we don’t take this behaviour very well, because in the end we are second in the championship, have taken five wins, seven podiums and have had a worthy season.
It does not make any kind of sense to not at least finish the championship – about this I cannot say any more – but it was the rider who ultimately decided not to get on the bike.
“This works in reverse as well as you have a contract – you work, do the season, and then we can discuss, away from the media limelight, if we terminate the deal.
But now, you can’t stop from one day to the next as you have commitments with the sponsors, with the mechanics, the years spent with the team in his career.
We should not be nothing to him; it has been a pleasure to work together but today it is clear that before reaching that point you have to first finish your work and then discus other points.
“For conditions that we cannot accept if not discussed, this decision cannot be reached in ten or twelve hours.
We are really sorry because it is not a situation created by us and we are confident we have given the maximum at all times, but obviously there are days you win and days you lose, and you have to learn to win and you have to learn to lose.
“Next year, he’s already been informed of everything that would be available or would not have been.
And I repeat that this is simply an error airing these views that you could discuss, try to fix, and within a few hours something could have changed.
We do not understand his decision and we feel bad for the team; I think it’s wrong by the sponsors and the people who are contributing to his career.
”