"It was the same bike as the weekend,” explained Viñales, after topping the timesheets on Day 1 at the Valencia test following a very tough weekend and straighaway answering the question on everyone's lips. “I felt much better - pushing the bike and from the first lap in the morning I felt great. During the whole day, even with 27 laps on the tyre, I could do low 31s. So we enjoyed today a lot, after a disaster weekend I was enjoying riding again. I felt strong again. We tried some things, with positives and negatives, but the laptime was there all the time. I think we did a good job, riding with the race setup and a full tank, and we worked quite good on that area. Then we did the time attack and I felt great. Nothing was different - one click in the suspension, the whole day like that.”
One of the toughest race days of the year seeemd to be behind him, and the Spaniard did 80 laps to prove it so. Comparing the 2016 M1 and the 2017 version, the rider from Roses says there are positives and negatives to both – with more to re-examine tomorrow. “With the 2016 corner entry is better, with the 2017, I exit better from the corner,” explains Viñales. “With the 2017 and 2016 bikes I was fast, both have positives and negatives. I feel more potential on the 2017 - but if the bike is working like today."
On Day 1, both Movistar Yamaha riders also tried a new aerofairing – with Viñales finding the positives: "The new fairing works well with some weak points on the bike, I liked it. We'll test it again in Sepang and other tests, but it seems it's better than what we have now. Mainly in the braking."
Day 2 fires up at 10:00 (GMT +1) on Wednesday.