Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) took his third pole of the season at the Autodromo del Mugello for the Italian GP, beating veteran teammate Valentino Rossi to the honour on the ‘Doctor’’s home turf.
Viñales, who leads the Championship by 17 points, is intent on the win on Sunday – and knows it could be a crucial event in terms of the title fight.
Maverick Viñales, P1: “I think everyone is so close, so tomorrow I have to be really smart trying to make a good start and push from the beginning, the first three laps will be really important. After the crash yesterday I was really nervous on the bike but then we modified it a bit in FP4 and I felt good, and in qualifying I pushed. If it’s cooler for my riding stye it’s always a bit better, but in Warm Up we still have a lot of things to try and the tyre choice will be really important. Tomorrow will be a tough race, because of the opponents but also the temperature.”