Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales showed great form on the second day at the Silverstone Circuit. Having both secured places in the Q2 session at the end of FP3, the Factory Yamaha riders went on to set impressive lap times under the 1’59s-mark to secure second and sixth place respectively on the grid for tomorrow‘s GoPro British Grand Prix.
Rossi was quick to leave pit lane and commence his 15-minute shoot-out. His first hot lap earned him provisional fifth place after all riders had completed their first attempt. His next lap was cancelled due to exceeding track limits and meanwhile he moved down the order to 11th place.
With six minutes remaining, the Doctor pulled into the pits for a fresh rear tyre. He was quickly back on his way. In theory he had enough time for two more flying laps, but with various riders cruising and looking for a tow, the Italian opted to wait until the last moment to make a dash for pole. He was now lying in P12 and the pressure was on, but that’s when Rossi shines. He produced a 1’58.596s lap to qualify in second place, 0.428s from first.
Viñales waited for most of the riders to exit their pit garages before he swung his leg over his YZR-M1, ready to push to the max, going all out for just one hot lap. He slotted into third position after this first try and immediately returned to the box.
With four and a half minutes on the clock, the Spaniard was back on his way. He was holding fifth place for the moment but was intent on being on the front row of the grid. He set three red sectors on his penultimate bid, but a twitch in the last sector cost him precious time, although he did move back up to fourth with this 1’58.762s lap. Unable to improve with his last effort, Viñales ended the session in sixth place, 0.594s from pole.
Mavrick Viñales
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team
“It has been a good weekend so far. We prepared really well for the race and I feel very confident for tomorrow, so I‘m going to try my best from Lap 1. Somehow I can hit very good lap times at the end of a race, which means that will be one of our strong points. I will be trying the maximum at the end. The beginning of the race is what we have to improve on, we have to be at the maximum level there too. I think it will be important to make another step in the Warm Up tomorrow if we want to battle for the win. The podium is very open, so we will try to be there, at the front, at the beginning and then we‘ll see.”
Massimo Meregalli
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“I‘m very happy, because starting from the front row is important now, it‘s crucial for the race. We worked well, I feel good with the bike, and also the pace is quite good. I hit some traffic and I had to wait, there was some confusion, but then I said to myself ’I can‘t start from the back, I have to do everything I can in one lap‘ and I enjoyed it very much, it was a great lap. I feel good on this track. For the second part of the season we changed something on the bike and I feel better, race by race I‘m getting more competitive. I have a quite good pace, we need to make the right tyre choice, but I feel good with the bike and I want to make it a good race. We hope that we will also have good weather tomorrow, and we‘ll try to be ready.”
Valentino Rossi
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team