Second Row Start at Sachsenring for Movistar Yamaha
. By Bikeland Staff
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales was in early contention for pole position in today‘s qualifying session and secured fourth place on the grid for tomorrow‘s Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. Teammate Valentino Rossi's continuous pushing earned him a hard-fought sixth position, as all 12 riders taking part in Q2 were covered by 0.7s.
Viñales started the 15-minute shoot-out with confidence. He fired up his YZR-M1 to briefly top the rankings with his first flying lap, and he was just getting warmed up. His second attempt put him firmly back on top with a 1‘20.441s before he headed into the pit box with eight and a half minutes to go.
The Spaniard let the majority of the rider field leave pit lane before him, so he had clear space out on track to defend his provisional pole. Although the youngster was pushing on the three laps he had left, he dropped to fourth in the final four minutes. Unable to improve on his best time he ended the day 0.171s from first.
Teammate Rossi had a more difficult start to the session. He dipped under the 1‘21s mark on his second hot lap, setting a 1‘20.972s for seventh place, before he decided to return to pit lane.
With less than six minutes remaining, the Doctor began his second run with a fresh set of tyres. Finding himself in eighth place, he knew he had to take it to the next level. The Italian moved up to fifth on his fourth attempt with a 1'20.532s. He had one more shot before the end of the session but didn‘t better his time. He finished in sixth place, 0.262s from pole and will join his teammate on the second row of the grid tomorrow.
The extended imagery of today's Qualifying session is available on
www.yamahamotogp.com
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MASSIMO MEREGALLI
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR
It's been a busy second day at the Sachsenring. Like we said yesterday, we had work to do on the settings and tyre specifications for the race, so that kept us occupied during today's two practice sessions. Maverick showed confidence at the start of Q2 and it was nice to see him hold on to provisional pole until three minutes before the end. It's a shame he wasn't able to improve his time even further on his second run. Valentino experienced the opposite: he struggled to get into the 1'20s on his first try, but managed to climb up to sixth position on the second one. Having both riders finish on the second row is not a bad result, especially considering that this circuit is not an easy place to overtake. We‘re still expecting a hard race. We're looking to make another step before tomorrow's warm up with a view to the race.
MAVERICK VIÑALES
MAVERICK VIÑALES
Qualifying was positive. Honestly, the first run was really good. On the second run I tried to push, but the front tyre was already a bit used, so that made it more difficult. I think it was possible today to make the pole, but we are mostly focused on tomorrow anyway. We have some things we want to improve tonight and let's see. We're going to work on the electronics and also my riding style, so I think we can improve.
VALENTINO ROSSI
VALENTINO ROSSI
Today was a lot better for us. We improved the balance of the bike and the acceleration, using the electronics. Our pace isn't fantastic, but it's also not so bad. It's true that, like many times this year, we're all very close, so it's important to start from the second row and try to have a good start and a good first few laps. After that we'll see. I think that the rear tyre choice will be crucial, because it's still open and we still haven't understood which is the best one. We have to see, check the data, work, and also continue to work tomorrow.
LINKS & DOWNLOAD
German GP - FP3 Results
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German GP - Combined Free Practice Results (FP1 + FP2 + FP3)
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