This first day of free practice ended with a very modest sixteenth place for the leader of the World Championship, on his own Catalan ground, and a recovery proves essential to hope to counter Marc Marquez who this Friday was at the top of his art.
The first session went relatively well for Vinales with the sixth time. However, the gap of 0.949 which separated him from leader Marc Marquez was already a little worrying. Maverick did not precede for example Sam lowes and his Aprilia by only two tenths. The Yamahas were not particularly comfortable in this FP1, Jonas Folger placing the first M1 in fifth position at 0.8, just ahead of Vinales.
In the afternoon, Maverick went from 1'46.824 to 1'45.810, but this only allowed him to obtain sixteenth position because the progress of his opponents was significantly greater. There is therefore a lot of tuning work to be done for the Movistar Yamaha team so that Vinales can qualify on Saturday morning during FP3 among the top ten who will go directly to Q2.
For Maverick Vinales, “ This morning I felt good, the bike was working well. We used the soft tires and the bike behaved very well. We did three or four laps which were OK and I wasn't far from the leader.
“But it went differently in the afternoon and I don’t know why. We usually have a very stable motorcycle, but it wasn't working well. Every time I went to the track, on a new or used tire, I was sliding a lot and I couldn't do anything, it was something very strange, it's difficult to say something about it.
“As for the new route, you have to take the right trajectory. Left-right is something that all tracks have, slow turns. Of course the 2016 version was much nicer, but for the circuit it has to be like this, it's better for everyone. »
Results of the first day of free practice revised:
1 Marc MARQUEZ-Repsol Honda Team-Honda 1'44.478
2 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati Team-Ducati 1'44.700
3 Jonas FOLGER-Monster Yamaha Tech 3-Yamaha 1'44.839
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati Team-Ducati 1'44.883
5 Danilo PETRUCCI-OCTO Pramac Racing-Ducati 1'44.890
6 Johann ZARCO-Monster Yamaha Tech 3-Yamaha 1'45.063
7 Dani PEDROSA-Repsol Honda Team-Honda 1'45.098
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Pull&Bear Aspar Team-Ducati 1'45.116
9 Valentino ROSSI-Movistar Yamaha MotoGP-Yamaha 1'45.118
10 Hector BARBERA-Reale Avintia Racing-Ducati 1'45.311
11 Scott REDDING-OCTO Pramac Racing-Ducati 1'45.375
12 Andrea IANNONE-Team SUZUKI ECSTAR-Suzuki 1'45.465
13 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia Racing Team Gresini-Aprilia 1'45.554
14 Loris BAZ-Reale Avintia Racing-Ducati 1'45.755
15 Sam LOWES-Aprilia Racing Team Gresini-Aprilia 1'45.760
16 Maverick VIÑALES-Movistar Yamaha MotoGP-Yamaha 1'45.810
17 Jack MILLER-EG 0,0 Marc VDS-Honda 1'45.868
18 Karel ABRAHAM-Pull&Bear Aspar Team-Ducati 1'45.932
19 Cal CRUTCHLOW-LCR Honda-Honda 1'45.967
20 Tito RABAT-EG 0,0 Marc VDS-Honda 1'46.229
21 Pol ESPARGARO-Red Bull KTM Factory Racing-KTM 1'46.946
22 Sylvain GUINTOLI-Team SUZUKI ECSTAR-Suzuki 1'47.002
23 Bradley SMITH-Red Bull KTM Factory Racing-KTM 1'47.892
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 105 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 79
3 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 75
4 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 68
5 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 68
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 64
7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 46
8 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 42
9 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 41
10 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 40
Photos © Yamaha
