Maverick Vinales has withdrawn from the rest of MotoGP’s Grand Prix of the Americas in the latest development of an injury saga that has now lasted nine months.

After an extremely promising start to life at KTM, Vinales’ second half of 2025 was a virtual non-event as he repeatedly missed races or withdrew mid-weekend due to a shoulder injury sustained at the Sachsenring.

He has yet to finish higher than 16th in a 2026 race and though the degree to which his poor form was down to lingering injury effects or the KTM’s performance woes was hard to tell, his decision to pull out of the Austin round after first practice shows how much the injury is still affecting him. Especially given he had been optimistic the layout would ask less of his shoulder and considering he’s been regarded as an Austin specialist since his epic double win there for Aprilia two years ago.

Vinales had been 13th in first practice, but that position was flattered by taking fresh tyres.

Prior to the start of the season it was believed KTM had already committed to bringing Vinales up from Tech3 into its factory team for 2027 as team-mate to current Gresini racer Alex Marquez, with Pedro Acosta bound for Ducati and Brad Binder’s future uncertain.

But Vinales’ ongoing injury concerns and current poor results have reportedly led KTM to hold off from finalising his 2027 factory team promotion for now.