Comments from the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Riders after FP1 at the Valencia GP

2020-11-16 09:25
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi completed Free Practice 1 of the Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana this morning, ending the session in 3rd and 13th position respectively.



The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team resumed action at the Ricardo Tormo circuit today. Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi used the first 45 minutes of dry track time to start preparations for Sunday‘s Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana and finished FP1 in 3rd and 13th place respectively.

Viñales spent the FP1 session working on his bike‘s settings and evaluating tyre options. He waited until the very end to put the progress he made to the test. The change to a set of medium tyres moved him up to third when he clocked a 1‘30.968s on lap 21/21, 0.139s from first.

Rossi also got a lot of work done in the morning practice. The Italian didn‘t put in a time attack, but instead fully focused on trying set-up changes that he didn‘t have time for last week. His best time, a 1‘31.545s set on lap 12/24, kept him in the top 10 for a while, but ultimately it wasn‘t enough to keep him there. He wrapped up the session in 13th position, 0.716 s from the top.



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


MAVERICK VIÑALES
MAVERICK VIÑALES


Position: 3rd | Best lap time: 1'30.968 (+0.139s) | Laps: 21

FP1 was very positive for me because we touched an area that we never touched before. It feels like the braking improved a lot, so basically the bike is working well. We need to continue working because we are still a bit far from the top guys, but I felt really good on the bike. That is something very positive because last weekend I didn't feel good, but today it was totally different. So I'm quite happy about that.





VALENTINO ROSSI
VALENTINO ROSSI


Position: 13th | Best lap time: 1'31.545 (+0.716s) | Laps: 24

We worked hard during the first practice. We had good, dry conditions, so we used it to try different tyres. We still have to work on the bike. We hope that the weather remains dry, maybe with some sun, so we can finish what we started this morning.

Source: Yamaha Motor Racing

Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story