It's finally happened. Maiden pole or win for Yamaha? That we don't know yet. But Maverick Viñales has at least ticked off one first at his new Movistar Yamaha home - a crash in 2017. But they say you can't keep a good man down and that was true enough; the number 25 straight back at it after his T4 lowside in FP2.
He didn't improve on his fastest from Friday, but he didn't need to - remaining top overall to lead the charge to Q2. Now, surely, the rider from Roses is a key favourite for the pole position shootout.
There's no denying it, the kid's got moves????#QatarGP pic.twitter.com/3e2KIr1BPS
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) 24 March 2017
MV25, P1: “The crash was a big mistake on my part. I was pushing and I was going wide. I was at that point where you have to decide – to go wide or try and make the corner. I tried to make the corner and I lost the front. My mistake and I was angry with myself because I shouldn’t make those mistakes! But I’m happy because we had good pace today even though the conditions weren’t as good as yesterday. It was slippier, I don’t know why but we did 1:56s consistently. I’m happy. Finally I didn’t feel so good on the soft tyre but I didn’t push at the limit – I was trying to have good pace. The bike is working well but we just need to improve the grip a bit. Maybe it was the conditions today after it rained and it was a bit dusty, so let’s check tomorrow. I’m happy overall but the crash was a big mistake. I know when I concentrate 100% I don’t make those mistakes.”