Maverick Viñales: I want to be MotoGP champion in two or three years!

With the interest ramping up ahead of this weekend’s Spanish GP round, the subject of much speculation about the future – Maverick Viñales – is upping his ante.

With the Spaniard currently being courted by Yamaha to line up alongside Valentino Rossi for the next couple of years  as a natural replacement for the now Ducati-bound Jorge Lorenzo, there’s going to be extra speculation placed around what he’s just said about his future.

Rossi himself has tipped Viñales as a future front runner in MotoGP and is clearly keen on getting the 21-year old in the Yamaha camp as a teammate. But it’s not a done deal just yet, Suzuki boss David Brivio said: “We’re waiting for him to decide to tell us what he wants to do. Of course our priority is to keep him. The whole Suzuki factory is working, wishing and hoping that he stays.”

Regardless of who he’s with, Viñales’ goals remain clear in the coming years with the Catalan kid setting out his stall very clearly before the Spanish round at Jerez this weekend. He said: “I want to see myself with the number one in two or three years. For sure I want it now, but now it’s impossible because the bikes needs to improve and I need to have more experience. But I think that in the future I can be strong and I can be one of the riders to win the championship.”

Rossi has always been a hero and a reference for Viñales, Maverick added: “It feels good that a rider like Valentino that has so much experience and has seen many riders says something like this about you. It means that you are doing things good. Since I was a kid he was the one who was winning and the one that I was following. He has always been my reference.

“For sure I can learn everything because he has so much experience, many championships and for sure he has the speed to go fast. But I think at the moment I feel quite good as a rider and I think we are quite competitive. My feeling is that at the moment the bike needs to make another step and we can be there; I think in nearly all the races. I have been always working so good under the pressure and I feel good because when I have pressure normally I do my best, so I like pressure.”