Vinales: A good start

Maverick Viñales was hesitant to get overly excited by an array of new Yamaha parts he tested at Valencia on Tuesday, which included a new engine and different chassis.

The 24-year old ended the day with the second fastest time, 0.164s off pace setter Fabio Quartararo at a cold, sunny Ricardo Tormo Circuit, where he felt “fast and consistent all the time.”

“A good start to the test,” began Viñales. “I was very happy. We rode the bike in a good way. That was the most important. We saved a tyre for tomorrow because we have to make better set-up. I rode with the hard tyre which was the race tyre. I felt great.”

On the new Yamaha engine, he said, “For me it works good. The bike was working fantastic today so we will see you tomorrow. Still we have to work on it. It’s very difficult to understand. We need to keep working. Tomorrow we will know much more.”

Like the engine, the two-time race winner in 2019 was also hesitant to get overly excited by the new chassis. “[We are] Working on [it]. We left the other bike at an incredible level so still we are working on it.

“But I am happy that the difference is not that big. We ride fast, all the time with the bike. But still for sure it’s just the first day, the first 50 laps. We need much more time [to assess].

“Honestly I’m still trying to find the best set-up. We are working very hard to see if we can find the best set-up here at Valencia.

“At the moment it’s difficult to understand but the most important thing is I ride fast and consistent all the time. I kept 1m 30s on the rhythm, which I didn’t do all weekend. That was really good.”

On why he hasn’t continued with Yamaha’s carbon swingarm at this test, he added, “I didn’t like it. As soon as we tried it at Misano I didn’t like it. So at the moment in that area we have to improve.

“That prototype carbon swingarm didn’t feel well on the bike. For me it change a lot the feeling. I could not push.”