Maverick Vinales has blamed a faulty electronic system with his Movistar Yamaha for initially wrecking his Valencia MotoGP before falling while aiming to catch the front group in wet conditions.

The Valencia pole-sitter is adamant on finding breakthroughs with his wet weather set-up on the factory Yamaha, opting for a shorter swingarm and bike settings first trialled during the Sunday warm-up session in Malaysia last time out, but his charge was hampered by problems with power delivery from his bike's electronics.

Vinales explained he would receive no power from the throttle and traction control in third gear but then too much power shifting to fourth gear, causing him to wheelie, which enabled his rivals to sprint past on the straights during the opening stages.

But after finding a rhythm and resolve, his mid-race push saw him crash out as the rain intensified which made conditions trickier with bikes aquaplaning before the red flag stoppage.

“I was pushing, I was giving my best but when I react I was over the handlebar,” Vinales said having walked away unharmed in a fast highside crash. “Anyway, I’m quite happy because I got a problem with the electronics and looks like there was no anti-wheeling and the traction control was working and the not working, so the first six laps was like a nightmare for me.

“Everyone was overtaking me on the straight because the bike there was without power, zero power, so I was losing a lot, like one second every lap, but then I start to think what I can do so I was like no full gas all the track and was just half gas to try to at least not get the wheelie and the bike don’t stop. When I understand that, I start to ride faster and faster and faster, I just think the crash is a consequence of that.

“I needed to push so much to recover all I lost on the straights but it was nice to feel strong on wet. Because the races I go on wet it was really bad, I could never ride, but today I could ride the bike.”

Despite a frustrating end to his “toughest year of his career” Vinales remained upbeat with Yamaha’s breakthroughs which continued to show in Valencia, as he grabbed pole position in dry conditions while Rossi challenged for the win in the wet, as the team shifts focus to 2019.

“Valentino and me were catching a lot Alex [Rins] and Dovi, I just think if we don’t crash and they don’t stop the race we were first and second, so it was good, pretty good to end the season like this feeling that I could be there in wet,” he said.

“We will try to start really smart pre-season and being intelligent is going to be the key for next year.”