Vinales leads Yamaha 1-2 in Friday practice at Misano

Maverick Vinales

Unlucky Friday 13th? Not for Yamaha at the GP Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini after Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) topped the Friday times from Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), with Valentino Rossi and Franco Morbidelli joining their teammates in the top five at Misano.

FP2 saw Vinales and Quartararo set the pace as the duo were split by a slender 0.057, the Spaniard and Frenchman sitting over three tenths clear of their nearest competitor – Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). Yamaha have seemingly picked up where they left off at the Misano Test and speaking after Friday’s track action, Vinales explains how he hit the ground running from the word go in FP1.

“I felt really good straight away this morning," began a happy Vinales. “We tried new things in the afternoon, but it’s not clear if they are better so we came back [to our usual configuration], we rode as we always do. I found a really good grip with the new tire and I felt really good. It was very positive, so we’ll try to keep the same mindset and keep working."

Both Vinales and Rossi tested several new parts at the test, and both we seen using those on Friday. One of those was the Suzuki-style duel exhaust, something Rossi used throughout Friday, but an item Vinales didn’t: “It still needs more laps, a better understanding, and then we’ll see. We will continue working on it in Aragon FP1 and then we’ll see. Right now, we haven’t discarded anything, because there are positives and negatives, but we still need more laps."

Friday Practice Results

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Time/Gap
1	VINALES Maverick	12	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	1'32.775
2	QUARTARARO Fabio	20	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	0.057
3	MARQUEZ Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	0.396
4	ROSSI Valentino	46	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	0.695
5	MORBIDELLI Franco	21	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	0.749
6	ESPARGARO Pol	44	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	0.849
7	PIRRO Michele	51	ITA	Ducati Team	0.929
8	PETRUCCI Danilo	9	ITA	Ducati Team	0.953
9	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	0.987
10	DOVIZIOSO Andrea	4	ITA	Ducati Team	1.051
11	RINS Alex	42	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	1.099
12	CRUTCHLOW Cal	35	GBR	LCR Honda	1.132
13	ZARCO Johann	5	FRA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	1.181
14	NAKAGAMI Takaaki	30	JPN	LCR Honda	1.223
15	BAGNAIA Francesco	63	ITA	Pramac Racing	1.228
16	MILLER Jack	43	AUS	Pramac Racing	1.295
17	LORENZO Jorge	99	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	1.364
18	RABAT Tito	53	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	1.431
19	MIR Joan	36	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	1.454
20	OLIVEIRA Miguel	88	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	1.587
21	IANNONE Andrea	29	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1.606
22	ABRAHAM Karel	17	CZE	Reale Avintia Racing	2.068
23	SYAHRIN Hafizh	55	MAL	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	2.160