Team Suzuki Press Office – August 14.
Maverick Viñales put in a strong and spirited performance to finish sixth in today’s MotoGP™ Red Bull Ring World Championship race in Austria as team-mate Aleix Espargaró was forced to pull-out suffering with the effects of a fractured finger incurred in a fall on Friday.
Viñales – who set the fastest lap of the race at one stage - stayed with the leading group of six riders that broke free from the rest of the pack early on, and spent most of the race locked in a battle with series leader Marc Marquez, but the Suzuki rider couldn’t quite make the pass. The positive jump at the start and effectiveness in early corners marked an improvement in his riding, and Viñales reported a very good feeling with the machine for the first half of the race.
Both riders were in the leading group in the early stages of the 28-lap race, but as the race entered the closing stages, Espargaró, who had battled pain in yesterday’s qualifying sessions, had to pull into the pits with four laps to go. His efforts were remarkable over the whole weekend, but the progressive drop of tyre performance generated an instability in the machine that made his riding too demanding for the injured hand.
