Viñales decimates Day 2 at Phillip Island

Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) made a big step forward on Day 2 at the Phillip Island test - taking the top spot, clearing the field by half a second and showing some ominous race pace. With a fast run at the end of the day well down into the 1:29 bracket – and consistently – the 2013 Moto3™ World Champion couldn’t quite top his best of the morning - the fastest of the day - but was the only man who put in a 1:28 lap.

Now having made a good host of decisions on direction as pre-season testing in 2017 reaches the half way point, including nominating a preferred chassis, the Spaniard is feeling more and more comfortable on the bike ahead of the season – and already topped the timesheets in Valencia and Sepang.

MV25, P1: “Today we focused a lot on the race pace and honestly we did a great job, we made a big step compared to yesterday. I‘m feeling more comfortable on the track and I‘m getting more grip from the tyres. I think we did a good job today, but we still have some work to do. We need to choose which chassis we like and decided on a few other things. We still have a lot of laps ahead of us. For sure I was trying to go faster at the end of the session today, but in sectors three and four there was a lot of wind so I couldn‘t beat the lap time I set this morning, but I‘m happy anyway. I‘ve been fast with both chassis and all the time I‘m riding 1‘29-low and 1‘29-medium. Like I said, we‘ve made a big step today and we‘ll try to make another step tomorrow.”