Maverick Vinales brought the confidence and momentum from his first MotoGP win of the season at Misano to the weekend in Catalonia last Sunday.
The Monster Yamaha rider was just under fourth fastest in both Friday sessions in Barcelona as he seemed to confirm the strength of the revised racing setup that was discovered in Italy under very different grip conditions.
“The bike works fantastic,” said Vinales. “We’re on point. I feel pretty good on the bike. We have to take a few small steps for tomorrow, but nothing surprising.
“This afternoon I rode the middle front, which wasn’t the best tire for us. I didn’t want to take the risk of pushing, but I’m pretty happy because the rhythm was there. That was the most important.
“I work all the time preparing for the race, on every training session. I have to understand. The driving style has also changed a lot. We are trying to improve and understand the bike. We just try to stay calm and with it drive.” flow in the corners.
“Tomorrow we will be focusing on the soft-soft tire combination to see if it works for us over the track. We will also try to take another step, especially with the race set-up, but I feel strong .
On the subject of matching items
“If I can push for pole I will, but our main goal is to be in the front row and then we’ll see where we stand.”
Vinales is currently second in the World Championship with Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, just one point behind Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Vinales’ teammate Valentino Rossi finished tenth on the combined Friday timesheets, 0.713 seconds from Petronas pacemaker and future teammate Franco Morbidelli.
On the subject of matching items
“This track is quite a shock from Misano,” said Rossi. “At Misano the grip was high and here in Barcelona it’s much, much less. But still this is Barcelona. It’s always like that. I like the track and in the end I’m only P10, but my feeling is better.
“My pace is pretty good. Of course we have to work in different places. It’s a bit difficult to control the bike. You have to ride differently because the rear slips a lot. But I feel good on the bike and I am not that bad.
“The windy conditions were difficult this afternoon, especially on the front straight because when you come out of the last corner you have no protection from the wind. The straight is also very fast and in the end the wind is pretty inconsistent and it moves that Bike very, that’s pretty scary.
“But it looks like it will be less windy tomorrow. I think that RP3 will be very important as always to stay in the top 10. I think everyone will push as hard as possible. After that I will try to to do something good. ” Qualify and try to start from the first two lines.
“At the moment there is still an open gap between the soft and medium tires, especially at the rear. We have to do a few more laps before we make a decision. Usually the grip level improves on this track on the second day, so we will tomorrow see.” . “