Photo: Movistar Yamaha
Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi rode strongly at the official IRTA MotoGP testing in 2017 at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia putting their team, Movistar Yamaha, on third and eight place on the timesheets.
The winter break didn’t seem to have affected the two riders. Former Moto3 World Championship and new Yamaha entry, Vinales made it seem as if he had been riding the YZR-M1 for years right from the start of the pre-season test at Sepang.
"We have been working a lot to prepare before the race season starts, and honestly I’m quite surprised,” Vinale said. “The first day is always difficult, but I'm feeling OK on the bike and physically good, so I'm happy, and I want to go back to working on the bike some more.”
Despite suffering from a lack of grip in the early stages, the Spaniard booked steady progress needing less than three hours to secure third place on the leaderboard with a 2'00.128s lap, 0.447s from first.
His teammate, Rossi, had a similar testing schedule, despite not being 100 percent fit. The Italian racer suffered from a massive headache in the morning, but that didn’t stop him from getting some miles aboard the new 2017 YZR-M1.
"The first feeling wasn’t so bad because in this session we finally have the real two bikes that we will use during the championship and they are better than the first prototype that we tested in November, from many points of view,” Rossi explained. “Unfortunately, it was a difficult day today. This morning I woke up with a very bad headache and until 12 o'clock I wasn’t in good shape. After that, we were able to do some laps and the feeling was good.”
His pace steadily increased throughout his morning and afternoon stints, signaling his positive feeling on the bike by setting the eighth fastest time, a 2'00.695s, 1.014s from the front. Towards the end of the day the Doctor worked on the performance of the engine and the electronics until rain dampened the track.
"We have been working a lot to prepare before the race season starts, and honestly I’m quite surprised,” Vinale said. “The first day is always difficult, but I'm feeling OK on the bike and physically good, so I'm happy, and I want to go back to working on the bike some more.”
Despite suffering from a lack of grip in the early stages, the Spaniard booked steady progress needing less than three hours to secure third place on the leaderboard with a 2'00.128s lap, 0.447s from first.
His teammate, Rossi, had a similar testing schedule, despite not being 100 percent fit. The Italian racer suffered from a massive headache in the morning, but that didn’t stop him from getting some miles aboard the new 2017 YZR-M1.
"The first feeling wasn’t so bad because in this session we finally have the real two bikes that we will use during the championship and they are better than the first prototype that we tested in November, from many points of view,” Rossi explained. “Unfortunately, it was a difficult day today. This morning I woke up with a very bad headache and until 12 o'clock I wasn’t in good shape. After that, we were able to do some laps and the feeling was good.”
His pace steadily increased throughout his morning and afternoon stints, signaling his positive feeling on the bike by setting the eighth fastest time, a 2'00.695s, 1.014s from the front. Towards the end of the day the Doctor worked on the performance of the engine and the electronics until rain dampened the track.
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