Movistar Yamaha Pile on Pressure in Phillip Island Qualifying

Qualifying

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team faced an eventful second day at the Phillip Island circuit, with changing conditions throughout

Maverick Viñales showed great form in Q2, securing second place on the front row.

Viñales was quick out of the gates at the start of the 15-minute Q2 heat. His first flying lap of 1'30.116 saw him very briefly hold eighth place, but he was just getting started. His third attempt saw him climb up to sixth, behind his teammate, but there was yet more in store for him. He headed back to the pit lane for a tyre change with less than seven minutes of the session remaining.

Two minutes later the Spaniard was back out on track and showed he meant business, immediately dropping a 1'29.146s lap to swap places with teammate Rossi, for fifth place. He kept piling on the pressure on his next lap and briefly secured pole with a 1'28.719s, before being pushed back to second place, by 0.333s. Thanks to this strong performance, he will start tomorrow's race from the first row of the grid.

Maverick Viñales

Position: 2nd - Time: 1'28.719 - Laps: 9

"Honestly, this was a better result than I expected. Especially in FP4 I didn't feel so good on the bike. I didn't feel as great as I did in the winter tests, because the tyres are different, especially the front. During qualifying, in the second run, I felt good and felt I could push, so I'm happy about that. We have been struggling a little bit this weekend, but I think we found a way now and we will try to give our best tomorrow. For sure we will be hoping for dry conditions, but we are finding ways of improvement in the wet, so I'm happy that today's practice sessions helped us learn a lot. Tomorrow I'm going to ride my own race. For sure I will push and apply pressure to my main rivals if I can, and do my best."

Massimo Meregalli

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - Team Director

"Following a wet morning practice, that gave us good information in case we have a wet race tomorrow, we worked hard over the course of FP4 to find further setting tweaks. We've tried several settings and different tyre options and made a significant step forward before qualifying. Both riders gave their 100% as usual.  Maverick rode a very strong second run in Q2 and set a 1'28.719s. That lap earned him second place on the grid, only losing out on securing pole position in the final stages.  The team will continue to work this evening to find further setting variations to offer the riders for warm up tomorrow morning in preparation for the race. There are going to be different key elements that will play a big role in tomorrow's GP, including the weather and the tyre choice. We will have to be ready for all possible circumstances."