MotoGP rider Maverick Viñales is furious that his brakes failed on Sunday during the Grand Prix of Styria at the Red Bull Ring. The Spaniard had to jump off his Yamaha at 227 kilometers per hour in order not to be seriously injured.
Viñales dropped to the tarmac on the seventeenth lap when he found at the end of the straight that he could not keep the first corner. His machine then flew straight into the tire stack and immediately caught fire.
“From the fourth lap I already felt that the brakes were getting worse”, Viñales said Motorsport.com. “I decided not to let anyone close in front of me so that I couldn’t take anyone with me. At the start of the seventeenth lap I suddenly heard the brakes explode.”
“There was nothing I could do and I decided to jump. I felt no fear, I just felt a lot of anger. It’s something that has never happened to me before. I hope it will soon become clear how exactly this could happen.”
Race shut down after crash
The Viñales crash brought the race to a halt. Joan Mir was on track for his first MotoGP victory before the hiatus, but Miguel Oliveira eventually took off after a spectacular finish with his first victory in the motorsport premier class.
Fabio Quartararo takes the lead in the World Cup position after five Grands Prix. The Frenchman is three points ahead of close pursuer Andrea Dovizioso and fourteen points ahead of number three Jack Miller. Viñales is fifth, 22 points behind Quartararo.
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