Maverick Vinales has renewed his contract with Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing for an additional two years, taking him through the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.

The Spaniard has been a strong contender for the factory squad since joining in 2017, earning a pair of top three championship rankings from three seasons with the Japanese manufacturer.

Vinales has scored six wins and 19 podiums aboard the YZR-M1, including his Yamaha debut race and Yamaha’s 500th GP win in Le Mans in 2017, as well as nine poles in total out of 55 grand prix starts.

“I’m extremely happy because I feel like I get to keep ‘my own team’,” Vinales stated. “This will be the second year with my current crew, and after this I have two more years to look forward to. I’m so excited! I think that if we keep working really hard we are heading the right way. For me, it was very important to make this announcement before the season started, because I’m highly motivated and want to be able to fully concentrate on the 2020 season.

“I don’t want to spend too much time thinking about the future. There were no reasons not to stay with Yamaha, because they feel like family. Yamaha is giving me a lot of support and, as I said, I have ‘my own team’, which is something I really need. We need to keep working and be very strong. Our main objective is, as always, to be world champion and try to bring Yamaha the number one honour again.

“I will try my best. For sure, I will give everything I have to make our team proud too. I would like to say ‘thank you’ to Yamaha for their faith in me. They are giving me a lot of confidence, and I really have trust in our partnership. I think we will both be growing very fast and we will keep pushing.”

Vinales will be on-track for the first time this season at the Sepang test, scheduled for 6-7 February.