Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) got off to a good start under the floodlights of the #QatarTest, ending Day 1 in P2 on the timesheets behind race lap record-breaking Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team). The Spaniard was ober three tenths off but the closest challenger to the Italian, with Viñales’ best of the day a 1:55.179.
The 2013 Moto3™ World Champion did the most laps of any rider on track at 60, and ended the first session feeling positive – another track; another impressive turn of pace.
Maverick Viñales, P2: “I have a good feeling after the first day in Qatar. I felt good with the bike already from the first lap, I was fast and, you know, that‘s a good thing. We‘ve been to four different tracks and I feel good at each one. This means I adapted well to the bike and we improved a lot. All the time we are bettering the race pace and each first and last lap on the same tyre is quite similar, so I‘m happy and I‘m quite surprised that we improved on every run. We wanted to work a lot on the race pace, it‘s important here. In Qatar it matters a lot to have a good pace because the tyre drops quite a lot, especially on the left side. Tomorrow it‘s our plan to make the tyre life last longer and make the lap times more consistent, so we‘re going to work on that.”