Maverick Viñales was the fastest rider on the first day in Valencia. The Spanish rider broke the circuit record and is showing very positive signs ahead of qualifying and the races over the weekend.
The Aprilia Racing rider spoke about the sensations he had on the bike during the first day of practice at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
– ‘ Very good, honestly we’re making a lot of progress on the grip and balance of the bike which gives us a lot of hope for this weekend to continue at this level. Tomorrow we want to keep it up and I’m going to do my best to maintain this level of pace. The tires are working well, the track is at a good level, so everything is going well. I think we’ve found what the bike needed most and we’re getting faster with every lap. Tomorrow we’ll try to get the perfect lap for qualifying on the front row of the grid, so we’ll see.
Asked about tomorrow and what he expects to face during the rest of the weekend, Maverick replied: ‘Tomorrow will be very cold and we’ll see how it goes, but it’s also good for the bike when it’s colder. We’re going to use the soft tire because it’s working well and hopefully it’s in our favor. We have the chance to end the season on a good way, so if we can do well in qualifying we have a good chance. I saw a lot of crashes at the start of the session with the hard tire on the front, but I think it will be the only option for Sunday’s race. We’re trying to confirm whether it’s the temperature and pressure of the tires that is affecting the bike’s performance and at Sepang we were able to draw some conclusions. Another problem is the starting system, which we are improving and developing. The problem is that we’re already faster, but we’re still a long way away from the start of the KTMs and Ducati, so I hope that Aprilia and I can take the next step in that direction.