Maverick Vinales issued the perfect response to his Austrian DNF by being fastest in opening practice for the Misano MotoGP.
Despite Yamaha not joining Aprilia, KTM, Ducati and Suzuki during June’s private test, M1 riders filled the top two places at the resurfaced track, with Vinales breaking a sizeable 0.550s clear of Petronas championship leader Fabio Quartararo.
Vinales – who suffered a spectacular brake failure after opting for the 2019 callipers in Austria – was quick throughout the session, setting his best time after fitting new soft front-hard rear tires at the end of the 45-minutes.
The result was a 1m 32.198s lap, comfortably under the official race lap record.
“I feel quite good on the track,” Vinales said. “After the crash I had in Austria, all that was on my mind was riding the bike here in Misano at 100%.
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“This morning I felt really good on the bike, but anyway it’s only FP1. We need to work a lot to understand the tires, because they are working very differently compared to last year. But so far, I’m quite happy.
“I’m trying to get into the flow of the track and I’m not thinking about anything else. I’m trying my best. We want to try to be at the maximum all the time on every lap.”
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Team-mate Valentino Rossi started his home event with the eleventh fastest lap time (+1.495s) . The Italian used the exact opposite tire choice to Vinales, opting for new hard front-soft rear rubber on his final run.
“The conditions are very different, because with the new asphalt the track provides more grip,” Rossi said. “So, because of this, we have to work in a different way than we did last year. This is also difficult for the tyre, but the first impression is not so bad.”
Free Practice 2 takes place this afternoon.