Progressive Start for Movistar Yamaha at the San Marino GP2018-09-08 19:05Misano Adriatico (Italy), 7th September 2018 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales had an encouraging start to the Gran Premio Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini weekend, securing fourth position in the combined Friday free practice timesheets. Valentino Rossi experienced a challenging FP1, but recovered in FP2, ending the day in eighth place. Viñales found a good feeling at the recent private test in Aragon, Spain, and he continued the positive vibes this morning when he started his San Marino GP challenge. He gradually climbed the provisional rankings, entering the top-3. He held firm for most of the FP1 session until the pace picked up in the final seven minutes, but even then he kept his cool and responded by clocking a 1‘32.739s to take third place, 0.131s from first. Despite the weather conditions changing from sunny to overcast in the afternoon, the Spaniard picked up work where he had left off. He struggled to show the same pace he had in the morning, but whilst tweaking his bike‘s set-up he was able to post 1‘32s laps towards the end and ultimately finished the day in fourth place, both in the FP2 and the combined timesheets, with a 1‘32.411s, 0.213s from the top. Thousands of Italian fans had been waiting to see their local hero in action, but the start of the San Marino GP weekend wasn‘t what Rossi had hoped for. Nevertheless, he focused on improving his bike‘s dry setting as the forecast for FP2 and FP3 remained uncertain and the race on Sunday is predicted to be dry. He ended the morning session in 15th position, with a 1.007s margin to first. In the cloudy afternoon the Doctor had his work cut out for him to claim a position inside the combined free practice top-10, but the added pressure only motivated him even more. He worked tirelessly trying to make his way up the order. He saved the best for last, dropping a 1‘32.786s in the final two minutes that put him in eighth place both in the combined and FP2 timesheets, 0.588s from today‘s fastest time. The extended imagery of today's Free Practice sessions is available on www.yamahamotogp.com Download MASSIMO MEREGALLI MASSIMO MEREGALLI TEAM DIRECTOR After the test here in Misano some weeks ago, we were interested to see if we could confirm the things we found back then. Unfortunately, the condition of the track and the tyre degradation are different than we expected, but that said, the riders are comfortable on their bikes, so we're seeing some fruits from our labour. One of today‘s aims was to get into Q2 with both riders, since we‘re expecting rain for tomorrow‘s FP3. It‘s also important to make the tyre choice for the race, but today we couldn‘t do it, so it will be important to have at least one more dry session before the Sunday. Obviously, we will try to prepare something for tomorrow. Since Maverick and Valentino are quite satisfied, we‘re optimistic that we can make another step forward. MAVERICK VIÑALES MAVERICK VIÑALES Honestly, today we've been working a lot on the lines on track, because we needed to improve this. The bike is at a really good level, but I need to amend my riding style a little in some sectors. Anyway, we still need to improve the electronics a little bit more. I think that there‘s another step we can make there, but I‘m happy about today. I think the tyre decision is difficult, because the degradation is completely different than during the test, we have much more of it now. We have to see what it‘s like tomorrow, today was only the first day – maybe the track wasn‘t in a great condition yet. On wet I have to improve my riding style, so in case of a wet FP3, I will focus on that and making a lot of laps. VALENTINO ROSSI VALENTINO ROSSI It was very important to be in the top-10 today. I improved my lap time at the end and reached the target. I feel more comfortable with the bike compared to during the test, I‘m a little bit faster already, but I have some problems, especially on braking. We have to improve the balance of the bike and it was also difficult with the tyre today. We expected that the hard was the right choice, but it looks like the race track now has a lot less grip compared to the test. This makes it more difficult. We still have work to do if we want to do a good race. LINKS & DOWNLOAD San Marino GP - FP1 Results Download San Marino GP - FP2 Results Download San Marino GP - Combined Free Practice Results (FP1 + FP2) Download Nome gp COMBINED RESULTS 07/09/2018 1. A. DOVIZIOSO DUCATI TEAM 1'32.198 2. J. LORENZO DUCATI TEAM 1'32.358 3. C. CRUTCHLOW LCR HONDA CASTROL 1'32.385 4. M. VIÑALES MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP 1'32.411 5. M. MARQUEZ REPSOL HONDA TEAM 1'32.537 6. D. PETRUCCI ALMA PRAMAC RACING 1'32.722 7. A. RINS TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR 1'32.775 8. V. ROSSI MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP 1'32.786 9. A. IANNONE TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR 1'32.923 10. F. MORBIDELLI EG 0,0 MARC VDS 1'32.980 11. J. ZARCO MONSTER YAMAHA TECH3 1'32.985 12. D. PEDROSA REPSOL HONDA TEAM Source: Yamaha Motor Racing Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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