Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Maverick Viñales put up a fight in a hot Q2 and secured 7th place on the grid for tomorrow’s Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley. Valentino Rossi aimed to battle his way through Q1 after finishing outside the combined top-10 results in this morning's FP3 session, but couldn't find the pace he was looking for. He will be starting the race from 18th position.
Viñales showed he had a strong pace, especially in sectors 1-3. He was keen on putting his agility to good use in the Q2 session and immediately positioned his YZR-M1 in fourth place on his first flying lap. He was pushed down a couple of positions soon after, but only briefly, as he responded by clocking a 1’46.181s to take second place.
With more than six minutes remaining he was back in the pit box for a fresh set of tyres. There was a 0.336s-gap to bridge to snatch pole, so the Spaniard set out to give it another go. When he didn’t improve on his next try, he was lying in fifth place. He gritted his teeth and set three personal best sectors but again couldn’t better his time, taking seventh on the grid for tomorrow's race, 0.662s from first.
Rossi had to contest in Q1, after only just missing out on a place inside the top-10 in this morning’s FP3 session. The local hero let the majority of the riders go out ahead of him and also held back on his first flyer, so he had plenty of clear space on track to put in a hot lap on his second attempt, moving up from 11th to 7th.
The Doctor hurried into the pits with seven minutes on the clock. Two minutes later he was back on the track and after his sighting lap he, in theory, had just enough time left for two more tries. However, the Italian wasn’t able to improve his time on his next go and just fractionally missed the opportunity to get another lap in. With other riders completing their final laps, he was pushed back to eighth place. He finished 0.906s off the fastest Q1 time and will start tomorrow’s race from P18 on the grid.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Maverick Viñales put up a fight in a hot Q2 and secured 7th place on the grid for tomorrow’s Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley. Valentino Rossi aimed to battle his way through Q1 after finishing outside the combined top-10 results in this morning's FP3 session, but couldn't find the pace he was looking for. He will be starting the race from 18th position.
Viñales showed he had a strong pace, especially in sectors 1-3. He was keen on putting his agility to good use in the Q2 session and immediately positioned his YZR-M1 in fourth place on his first flying lap. He was pushed down a couple of positions soon after, but only briefly, as he responded by clocking a 1’46.181s to take second place.
With more than six minutes remaining he was back in the pit box for a fresh set of tyres. There was a 0.336s-gap to bridge to snatch pole, so the Spaniard set out to give it another go. When he didn’t improve on his next try, he was lying in fifth place. He gritted his teeth and set three personal best sectors but again couldn’t better his time, taking seventh on the grid for tomorrow's race, 0.662s from first.
Rossi had to contest in Q1, after only just missing out on a place inside the top-10 in this morning’s FP3 session. The local hero let the majority of the riders go out ahead of him and also held back on his first flyer, so he had plenty of clear space on track to put in a hot lap on his second attempt, moving up from 11th to 7th.
The Doctor hurried into the pits with seven minutes on the clock. Two minutes later he was back on the track and after his sighting lap he, in theory, had just enough time left for two more tries. However, the Italian wasn’t able to improve his time on his next go and just fractionally missed the opportunity to get another lap in. With other riders completing their final laps, he was pushed back to eighth place. He finished 0.906s off the fastest Q1 time and will start tomorrow’s race from P18 on the grid.