Movistar Yamaha Continue Battle with Elements in First Japanese FP Sessions

Free practice
Today Movistar Yamaha MotoGP's Maverick Viñales prepared for an intense weekend at the Twin Ring Motegi track.

The weather was the biggest challenge for Viñales this morning. He found himself starting Yamaha's home GP weekend in the pouring rain, and he had to up his pace gradually, careful not to cross the limit. Despite the treacherous conditions, which made it harder to get heat into the tyres and caused impaired vision due to the spray, he started working on his YZR-M1's setting. The Spaniard took ninth in FP1 with a 1'56.917s best lap, 1.499s from the front.

The Yamaha Factory rider looked more confident during the second 45-minute session. Working on corner entry and minimising rear spin, he found a better pace, posting multiple 1'57s laps to ultimately secure 11th place with a fastest lap of 1'56.376s. He was again 1.499s from the leader and ended up in 11th position in the combined results.
Maverick Viñales
Position: 11th - Time: 1'56.376 - Laps: 34
"It's been challenging throughout the year to be strong in the wet. We didn't find a good set-up so far. The gap to the front is quite big, so we have to try to better the setting of the bike to improve the rear grip. It's a pity, because the conditions weren't really tricky and the grip level of the track was good. We still have tomorrow's sessions to find a solution."
Massimo Meregalli
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - Team Director
"We weren't expecting to face such difficulties today. Unfortunately, we struggled with a lack of rear grip, especially on corner entry, even though the grip level of the Motegi track is always good. Our performance level in wet conditions continues to be a point of improvement. We tried to solve this issue during today's wet sessions, but we didn't get the breakthrough we hoped for. Since we weren't ready to exploit the extra soft tyre, as we wouldn't have been able to enjoy its full advantage, we decided against using it, also because of the small quantity that we were given. The weather conditions are expected to remain the same, so we'll continue to keep pushing in the rain because we're eager to make a big step over the weekend for Sunday's race."