Movistar Yamaha Get Up to Speed in Spielberg FP Sessions

Free practice

Due to looming clouds and a persistent threat of rain, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team had to make every dry minute of today's free practice sessions count, ahead of this weekend's NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich. both riders were fast to find their rhythm in the quite cool conditions, with Vinales taking 2nd position respectively in the combined times.

This morning Viñales calmly prepared for Sunday's race at the Red Bull Ring - Spielberg, steadily upping his pace. He consistently posted lap times within the 1'25s, only to turn up the heat a notch on his last run in the final mini time attack. He set a 1'24.752s for fourth place, 0.121s from the front, making sure of a provisional spot in the top-10 in case of rain in the afternoon and tomorrow morning.

The young gun again displayed his patience before pouncing at the right moment in the afternoon session. A wet spot in turn 3 made it impossible for the riders to improve their time, despite the rest of the track being dry. Having seen this from his pit box, Viñales bided his time until, with 25 minutes of the available time left, the sun came out and the track was ready for action. The Spaniard was quickly on the pace and continued to work hard, concluding the session with a 1'24.280s lap for second place, 0.234s from first.

Maverick Viñales

Position: 2nd - Time: 1'24.280 - Laps: 35

"We are really pleased, because we're starting with a good feeling again. Today we did a really good job, I was feeling quite good on the bike. Especially after the Brno test we improved the set-up a lot. For tomorrow, I think it will be very important to work further on the electronics and also on the acceleration, which is really crucial here."

Massimo Meregalli

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - Team Director

"Considering that the Spielberg circuit is one of the more challenging tracks on the MotoGP calendar for us, today's results are quite positive. It was a pity we lost some track time in FP2 because of a wet spot on track, but all in all our riders' pace is good. We've been quite productive. Today we were able to compare fairings, tyre specs - both front and rear -, and also different set-ups. The FP2 session ended up quite well for Maverick, with a significant second fastest lap time as well as a good pace. In general, there's a margin for improvement for both riders' bikes."