MotoGP Phillip Island J2 tests, mid-day: Vinales gains more than a second

Maverick Vinales was the first of this second day of testing to go below 1'29, achieving in 1'28.846 the best provisional performance since the start of these Australian tests (1'29.989 on Wednesday for Maverick). It was interesting to note that he used the old type of fairing to do this, without the integrated fins. His teammate Valentino Rossi, who celebrated his thirty-eighth birthday this Thursday, had his M1 equipped with an identical aerodynamic configuration

The weather was a little cooler and cloudier than the day before, but above all with a wind (head on the pit straight) significantly less strong. Dani Pedrosa, present on the circuit but suffering from a sore throat, did not ride in the morning. Santi Hernandez, Marc Marquez's chief technician, remained in Spain due to illness.

Michelin offered two new front tires to drivers this Thursday, intended to give them a better feel and warm up more quickly. Everyone had one of these two tires to try, as well as three different examples for the rear, composed of three rubbers fitted on the carcass validated at Sepang, aiming to offer improvements in terms of traction and/or stability. The temperature was more favorable than the day before for long-term driving, particularly for the front tire. These endurance tests had to be done in the morning or at the end of the session to avoid the intense heat of midday.

At mid-session, Vinales still dominated in 1'28.846, 1.1 gained compared to the day before. For comparison, Marc Marquez, then in second position in 1'29.309, had only gained a tenth. Marquez preceded the other Honda of Cal Crutchlow in third by 0.01. But the best times were still to come in the afternoon and everyone took a break in the middle of the day, after completing for example 50 laps for Marquez or 49 for Redding. The Australian Grand Prix is contested over 27 laps.

Mid-day results