Without the brakes, things get tight – MotoGP rider Maverick Vinales involuntarily experiences this. At the Styrian Grand Prix, the Spaniard’s motorcycle failed and spontaneously separated from his speeding machine. It is on fire shortly afterwards.
Maverick Vinales will not soon forget the Styrian Grand Prix. If only because the pictures that show the Spanish MotoGP riders at the race in Spielberg, Austria, are both unusual and threatening. Because the brakes on the 25-year-old’s Yamaha failed while he was driving along the start-finish straight towards the first corner at over 220 kilometers per hour on the 17th of 28 laps. It seemed as if his motorcycle was going to crash into the barriers without braking – but Vinales decided differently – and let himself fall from the machine.
This is of course not without risk at this speed. While Vinales skidded straight across the asphalt, his motorcycle crashed into the fence and went up in flames after a violent impact. The pilot, or so it looked on the TV pictures, tensed every muscle of his body after he jumped so as not to injure himself. He apparently succeeded: As the rear camera of his badly damaged motorcycle showed, Vinales stood again a few seconds later and visibly expressed his anger at the accident.
The Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring was restarted after an interruption, with Miguel Oliveira at the top in the 900th race in the premier class of motorcycle racing for a novelty. The 30-year-old KTM rider was the first Portuguese to win, breaking the dominance of Ducati after the Italian manufacturer had won the previous five races in Austria. After the fifth race of the season, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha / 70 points) continues to lead in the overall standings, followed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati / 67) and Jack Miller (Ducati / 56).
The German pilot Stefan Bradl came in 18th and thus far from the points at the finish. Bradl represents the injured world champion Marc Marquez, but quarreled with his performance: “I’m not driving forward. We’re crashing into a wall.”
– .
