The Yamaha rider had a very good Friday, and an excellent Saturday morning, which suggested that he was going to play at the front in qualifying. Unfortunately, the feeling was not there and he will only start from the third row.
After a fourth place in the combined times of the first day of testing, Maverick Vinales was confident in attacking FP3 on Saturday morning, and it showed in the standings: he finished in first place. However, as the temperature rose, its performance declined.
First seventh in FP4, he was then unable to do better than eighth during qualifying: “This morning everything went very well, I had fun on the bike and attacked every lap, but this afternoon the track conditions were different, it was impossible to achieve the same times. »
Knowing that the race will take place in the afternoon and that bright sunshine is forecast, the Spaniard is a little lost: “My running pace is good when it's cold, but when it's hot it's more difficult to maintain that pace. I'm not sure I know my potential for tomorrow. It will be difficult to repeat our performance from last year, but I will do my best. »
It is true that it is difficult to see how he could win like in 2017, even if anything can always happen. The objective is nevertheless defined: “The race is going to be difficult, but we will try to take as many points as possible. We still have the Warm Up to progress for the race. I don't know yet which tire I'm going to use, but I have good pace with both. »
