Comments from Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders after FP1 at Andalucia GP

2020-07-28 08:55
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi have completed the FP1 session at the Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto (Spain) this morning, securing 1st and 2nd place respectively.



The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team returned to action at the Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto this morning, gearing up for what promises to be a sizzling Gran Premio de Andalucía. During FP1 Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi continued to build on the data that they gathered last weekend, securing a 1-2 result for the team in the process.

Viñales once again proved why he‘s one of the fan favourites for this GP weekend. The local hero continued his fast pace from last week throughout the FP1 session, all the while working on tweaking the setting of his YZR-M1 to make him even more comfortable. Once the Yamaha rider was fully satisfied with the changes, he used the final minutes to crank out a 1‘37.063s on lap 21/21, riding with a hard-soft tyre combination. The late hot lap put him firmly in the lead, 0.142s ahead of his team-mate in second place.

Rossi had a difficult outing in Jerez last time round, and as a result he was a man on a mission this morning, keen to better his feeling with the tyres. Knowing that it would be difficult to improve his lap in the extremely dry and hot afternoon conditions at the Andalusian circuit during FP2, the Italian went on to put in an early time attack. Having opted for the soft-soft tyre combination, he clocked a 1‘37.205s on lap 18/20 that briefly put him in provisional first place. Only his team-mate was able to beat this time, so Rossi earned a second place, 0.142s from first.



Pictures for editorial use only. Copyright © 2020 Yamaha Motor Racing Srl


MAVERICK VIÑALES
MAVERICK VIÑALES


Position: 1st | Best lap time: 1'37.063 | Laps: 21

FP1 was so good! We tested a few things that we weren‘t able to try during the last race weekend, and I felt an improvement, but anyway I‘m keeping my feet solidly on the ground. I know we have to work even harder to do an even better race, because we have really good potential. But the team is working in a good way. I mean, we are already hitting a really good lap time in FP1, which is always very important, and straight away I feel very strong. So, I‘m very happy and enthusiastic to pick up work again in the afternoon and see what we can do when the temperature goes up.





VALENTINO ROSSI
VALENTINO ROSSI


Position: 2nd | Best lap time: 1'37.205 (+0.142) | Laps: 20

It was a good practice session, because we‘re faster than we were last week. We modified something with the setting of the bike and now I feel better. I improved my pace and also the tyres work better. At the end, the time attack with the softs was good. So, it‘s a positive start and we need to continue like this.

Source: Yamaha Motor Racing

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