Photo: Yamaha
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team ended the first official IRTA test of 2017 season at the Sepang International Circuit in top place, boosting confidence for the upcoming championship.
The team’s riders, Spaniard Maverick Vinales and Italian Valentino Rossi, have spent the three days working in various conditions to further enhance their YZR-M1 motorcycles.
Although the improvement of the bikes’ technical aspects was the primary goal, Vinales and Rossi also claimed top leaderboard positions, placing in first and fifth place accordingly.
This morning Viñales showed once again that his riding style matches perfectly with the YZR-M1's nimble character. He dropped various hot laps before posting his fastest time of the day, a 1'59.368s on lap 40, to slot into first place in the rankings.
With a margin of 0.138s ahead of his closest rival, he comfortably held his position until the end of the session after shifting his attention to the last details of his bike's setting. A few spots of rain in the afternoon had the young rider sit in the pit box before he could resume his testing program.
As soon as the conditions improved Viñales had his final go on the YZR-M1 and had enough minutes left to end the test with a time attack. Though unable to beat his best lap, he is leaving the Sepang track feeling confident, having completed 72 laps today.
Rossi also didn't let any time go to waste on the last opportunity of testing in Malaysia. He filled his morning session with evaluating a new tire for Michelin and building on his findings from the previous testing days.
The team will now return to Europe while the engineers return to Japan to process the data and take their 2017 MotoGP preparation another step further. The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team will regroup in Phillip Island from Feb 15th - 17th for the second pre-season test of 2017.
Although the improvement of the bikes’ technical aspects was the primary goal, Vinales and Rossi also claimed top leaderboard positions, placing in first and fifth place accordingly.
This morning Viñales showed once again that his riding style matches perfectly with the YZR-M1's nimble character. He dropped various hot laps before posting his fastest time of the day, a 1'59.368s on lap 40, to slot into first place in the rankings.
With a margin of 0.138s ahead of his closest rival, he comfortably held his position until the end of the session after shifting his attention to the last details of his bike's setting. A few spots of rain in the afternoon had the young rider sit in the pit box before he could resume his testing program.
As soon as the conditions improved Viñales had his final go on the YZR-M1 and had enough minutes left to end the test with a time attack. Though unable to beat his best lap, he is leaving the Sepang track feeling confident, having completed 72 laps today.
Rossi also didn't let any time go to waste on the last opportunity of testing in Malaysia. He filled his morning session with evaluating a new tire for Michelin and building on his findings from the previous testing days.
The team will now return to Europe while the engineers return to Japan to process the data and take their 2017 MotoGP preparation another step further. The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team will regroup in Phillip Island from Feb 15th - 17th for the second pre-season test of 2017.
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