Comments from Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders after FP3 at the Valencia GP

2020-11-16 09:32
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales rode hard in the FP3 session and secured a place in Q2, held later today at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. Valentino Rossi will have to take part in this afternoon‘s Q1.



This morning, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP‘s Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi had to push hard in the final minutes of a drying FP3 session to battle for a spot in the top 10. Thriving under pressure, Viñales saved the best for last and earned fifth place in the combined free practice standings with his final lap. Rossi was unable to improve on his Friday time and came 0.506s short for a place inside the top 10. He will have to take part in this afternoon‘s Q1 session.

Like planned, Viñales put in the soft-soft tyre combination at the start of FP3 to get his set-up adjusted to it before today‘s qualifying. With the track drying throughout FP3, the Spaniard was on the lookout for the right moment to push. The live timing screens started to fill with red sectors in the last fifteen minutes. The Yamaha man responded by upping his pace. His final lap, a 1‘30.697s, was fast enough to earn him fourth place in the FP3 rankings and fifth in the combined free practice results, with a 0.529s margin to first.

Rossi knew he had work to do this morning and had planned to use FP3 to further improve his bike‘s balance. However, with rain threatening and the circuit still drying, he had his work cut out for him. Still, the Italian pushed until the very last second of FP3, clocking a 1’31.372s on lap 12/12, but it wasn‘t enough to improve on his FP2 time. He ended the FP3 session in 17th position, 1.204s from the top. His 0.001s faster FP2 time put him 18th in the combined free practice timesheets, 1.203s from first.

Viñales and Rossi will be back on track from 14:10 - 14:40 local track time (GMT+2) for FP4. Rossi will then take part in Q1, held from 14:50 - 15:05, hoping to join Viñales in Q2, ridden from 15:15 - 15:30.



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MAVERICK VIÑALES
MAVERICK VIÑALES


Position: 4th | Best lap time: 1'30.697s (+0.529s) | Laps: 13

FP3 was very important for getting inside Q2, because all the riders are very tightly packed, and you can go from first to sixth in a mere moment. Overall, the feeling is really good and I'm very happy. Now we need to work a bit more on riding with used tyres to see if we can raise our game. But, anyway, I'm happy and we will try to make another step in FP4.





VALENTINO ROSSI
VALENTINO ROSSI


Position: 17th | Best lap time: 1'31.372 (+1.204s) | Laps: 12

It's a shame we had bad conditions in FP3. We had a little bit of rain in the beginning and that made the track not perfect. We needed this practice to try to get into Q2, but in the end I was not able to do so. We had some problems with the grip, but we hope that this afternoon it will be fully dry and then we will try to improve.






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NOTES



FP3 TEMPERATURES:

Air: 16°

Humidity: 86%

Ground: 17°

Source: Yamaha Motor Racing

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