The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team started work at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today, in preparation for Sunday’s Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. Working on various setting and tyre options, Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales took seventh and fifteenth place respectively in the combined rankings.
Rossi needed some time to get up to speed in the morning session, using most of the available 45 minutes working on the balance of the bike. After getting a feel for the track conditions and bike behaviour in his first two runs, he sped up towards the end. He finished FP1 in ninth place with a 1’41.190s, 0.498s from first.
The temperatures went up to 26°C in the afternoon, setting the scene for a hot paced FP2. The Italian was fast to position his YZR-M1 in second place, but the times of the rider field dropped early on in the session, moving Rossi to thirteenth position. The Doctor worked on his bike's setting before responding, delivering multiple fast laps in the last ten minutes. His final attempt, a 1’40.520s, earned him seventh position in the FP2 and combined free practice results, 0.441s from first.
Viñales was eager to make a good impression on his home fans this weekend and was quick to get to work this morning. Despite the somewhat slippery track conditions, he soon found a solid base set-up and race pace and continued to improve his time. He ultimately scored third place with a best lap of 1’40.872s, 0.180s from first.
In the afternoon the local hero focused on comparing various tyre specs and setting combinations for almost the entire duration of FP2, until switching to the soft-soft tyre option in the final five minutes. His last and only hot lap, a 1’40.847s, briefly put him in 12th place in the rankings. However, as some late flying laps came in, he was pushed back to 14th place in the FP2 standings and 15th place in the combined timesheets, 0.768s from the top.
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team started work at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today, in preparation for Sunday’s Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. Working on various setting and tyre options, Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales took seventh and fifteenth place respectively in the combined rankings.
Rossi needed some time to get up to speed in the morning session, using most of the available 45 minutes working on the balance of the bike. After getting a feel for the track conditions and bike behaviour in his first two runs, he sped up towards the end. He finished FP1 in ninth place with a 1’41.190s, 0.498s from first.
The temperatures went up to 26°C in the afternoon, setting the scene for a hot paced FP2. The Italian was fast to position his YZR-M1 in second place, but the times of the rider field dropped early on in the session, moving Rossi to thirteenth position. The Doctor worked on his bike's setting before responding, delivering multiple fast laps in the last ten minutes. His final attempt, a 1’40.520s, earned him seventh position in the FP2 and combined free practice results, 0.441s from first.
Viñales was eager to make a good impression on his home fans this weekend and was quick to get to work this morning. Despite the somewhat slippery track conditions, he soon found a solid base set-up and race pace and continued to improve his time. He ultimately scored third place with a best lap of 1’40.872s, 0.180s from first.
In the afternoon the local hero focused on comparing various tyre specs and setting combinations for almost the entire duration of FP2, until switching to the soft-soft tyre option in the final five minutes. His last and only hot lap, a 1’40.847s, briefly put him in 12th place in the rankings. However, as some late flying laps came in, he was pushed back to 14th place in the FP2 standings and 15th place in the combined timesheets, 0.768s from the top.