Maverick Vinales says he will battle to the end in a bid to lift third in the championship – but believes second is out of reach.

The Suzuki Ecstar rider is now just 11 points adrift of Jorge Lorenzo who currently lies third, and 35 points off Valentino Rossi in second after crossing the line third in today’s MotoGP race at Phillip Island.

Vinales stormed through from 13th on the grid to take final podium spot and 16 points, finishing ahead of Lorenzo who could only manage sixth.

And with two rounds left, the Spaniard – who will join Rossi at the Movistar Yamaha team next season – knows he could even move ahead of his team-mate-to-be.

“For second is going to be so difficult,” he said. “Valentino will be so great in Malaysia and also Valencia, so it’s going to be really, really difficult we need to work so hard and it’s a lot of gap on the points but the third is quite close and I will give everything”

Regardless of where he ends up in the points, for now Vinales is relieved to have salvaged 16 points after a tough weekend dogged by bad weather.

“When I woke up this morning I open the window quite fast to see if it was sunny,” he said. “I always feel fast on this track so I was not worried about it being dry, I just make my own riding style.

“In the first laps I was feeling not really confident with the front, it was difficult to believe in the tyre, but once I start to believe I start to ride fast, get my own pace and then start to overtake many riders, in one lap I maybe overtake two riders so it was really nice.

“Then when I see I could be on the podium I push just a little bit more. I caught Aleix and Dovi quite fast and was making a strategy to push at the end of the race.

“Honestly I am so happy because after a disaster of a weekend it was really great to have 16 points and also be in front of Jorge.”