After disappointment and the rant seen yesterday, there is no doubt that Maverick Vinales carried out his tests today with completely different settings. And the improvement is notable, even if the Spanish driver, unlike his teammate, is still far from being fully satisfied.
During qualifying, Maverick Vinales first made sure that he was the last to leave the pit lane, in order to have a clear track in front of him. His first attack lap placed him directly in sixth place. Although he still won his time during his second lap, the improvements of his opponents placed him in seventh place, and it was in this position that he returned to his box, after six minutes on the track.
With a new tire, the Yamaha rider was first able to recover sixth place during his second run before dropping to 9th under attacks from his competitors. In a final attempt, he improved his time to 1'55.663, which will allow him to start 7th on the starting grid tomorrow, 0.682s from the best time.
The Yamaha rider, playing for the world title, cannot be fully satisfied with this result, but between a final attempt at adjustments during the morning warm-up and an expected race on a wet track, there are many factors that could be more decisive than these small 7 tenths of a second…
Massimo Meregalli, Team Director: “Maverick has made some big changes to his bike, but there are still some adjustments to be made. He had a solid race pace this morning, but there is still room for improvement in the second sector, as we saw during this afternoon's qualifying. Although the weather conditions for the race remain a question mark, we will prepare something for tomorrow's warm up to see if we can gain a few more tenths before the race. »
Maverick Vinales : “It was very difficult during qualifying, because we didn't find a good configuration) and I couldn't make the bike turn the way I wanted. We still have time to thoroughly check the information we gathered today and try to prepare a different setup for tomorrow's warm up. I think I can take a few steps forward during the race. My race pace is not that bad, but we need to improve anyway. »
01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’54.981
02- Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.092
03- Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team - Honda RC213V - + 0.138
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.460
05- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda – Honda RC213V – + 0.508
06- Jorge Lorenzo – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.571
07- Maverick Vinales – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.682
08- Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.757
09- Alvaro Bautista – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.046
10- Johann Zarco – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.094
11- Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP – + 1.374
12- Loris Baz – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.643
13- Alex Rins – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR
14- Jonas Folger – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1
15- Jack Miller – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V
16- Hector Barbera – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
17- Karel Abraham – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP
18- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team – KTM RC16
19- Bradley Smith – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team – KTM RC16
20- Andrea Iannone – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR
21- Tito Rabat – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V
22- Sam Lowes – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP
23- Scott Redding – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP
