With the temperatures off-track at the Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia as hot as the action on it – the asphalt hitting a scorching 51 degrees – the Grand Prix distance was reduced from the originally scheduled 31 laps to 23.

Following a difficult Qualifying session on Saturday, Maverick Viñales and Red Bull KTM Tech3 team-mate Bastianini lined up 20th and 22nd on the grid, respectively, with both running a hard-compound Michelin front tyre and medium at the rear.

Bastianini made a bright start to advance two spots to 20th, and subsequently gained further ground following crashes for Brad Binder, Francesco Bagnaia, and Joan Mir. After trading places with Viñales just after mid-race distance, the Italian went on to overhaul both Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, as well as former champion Fabio Quartararo, to cross the finish line 15th - adding another point to the four he tallied in the Thai season-opener.

On the sister bike, ‘Top Gun’ recovered from a slow getaway to move back ahead of his team-mate on lap two, prior to conceding the place again later in the race. A subsequent error, however, restricted Viñales to 18th at the chequered flag.

There is no respite for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 squad, with Round Three of the 2026 MotoGP campaign – the Grand Prix of the Americas – taking place in just a week’s time (27-29 March) at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas, where Viñales holds the Qualifying lap record.

Enea Bastianini: “During the warm-up lap, I got hit by many stones because the asphalt here is new, and I was thinking, ‘wow, to race like this will be hard’. I honestly wasn’t expecting to finish, because it was so painful at the start. Also, sectors two and three of the lap are a bit slow, but with a lot of acceleration, which is where we are currently suffering. It’s clear that we’re missing something – I need every time to reset and I don’t have the confidence to push. Today, my pace was quite close to Pedro [Acosta], but starting from behind is very difficult and means you can’t fight for good positions.”

Maverick Viñales: “I think some areas of the weekend were quite positive, since they helped us to understand certain things, but there is still a lot of work to do – not only on the bike, but also on myself, because I must improve as well. The main issue for me is that especially with the softer tyre compound, the rear is pushing the front, which complicates corner turn-in. Even if I try to brake late, I go a little bit wide, so then I push too much on the gas and it’s all a consequence. Each time we put on a soft compound, I suffer a lot – I’m fighting with the bike every metre of the track – so we need to keep focusing on ourselves to make sure we overcome that.”

Nicolas Goyon, Team Mananger: “It’s been a difficult weekend. It seems like this circuit layout doesn’t really suit our bike – it highlighted a weak point that we know we need to focus on if we want to improve the package. Nevertheless, both riders fought with what they had. Unfortunately, Maverick had wheelspin at the start, which left him last into the first corner. He tried to recover a few positions, but then he made a mistake and that was that. Enea got increasingly competitive throughout the race, but starting so far back meant he came away with just one point. Now, we move on to Austin, where the bike should perform a bit better and we look forward to fighting nearer the front.”