It was almost a fairytale for Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) on home turf at Misano, but Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) pipped him to the post at the end of the session to take over at the top. Feeling good on the bike, especially during a long stint working on race pace in FP4, Viñales expects a big fight on Sunday – and that he’ll be a key protagonist as the title fight hots up...
Maverick Viñales, P1: “Today the bike was working really good, especially in FP4 I was happy with the bike. So I knew if I was riding well I could take pole. At Silverstone I rode aggressively but here I rode smooth. The bike is improving race by race and I’m happy we still have room to improve. I was trying the hard tyre and looking at the five laps to the end. That’s important, to be ready at the end. I’m happy with race pace but we have Warm Up to make another step so we can battle for the win. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain. But rain or no rain we have to be strong and competitive. The approach is the same as other races. We are four riders quite close so it could be a group at the beginning and whoever chooses the tyre right it could make the difference. It will be a tough race until the end.”