Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Vinales was best of the rest in qualifying after placing his factory GSX-RR second on the grid for tomorrow’s 23-lap Aragon Grand Prix.
The Spaniard came into today having shown well in free practice, though there was still room for improvement after finishing Friday sixth on the time sheets. The team worked on improving Vinales’ set-up during FP3 and the Spaniard was able to climb up the order as a result, coming into qualifying as the third fastest rider.
The only question mark remained over the Suzuki’s performance in the hotter conditions, an area which has been a problem but has seen improvement in recent races. However, their were no such concerns and Vinales was a front row contender from the off in QP2.
Vinales produced a lap of 1m47.748s right at the end of the 15-minute session to lift himself into second, his best qualifying result since the Italian Grand Prix back in May.
As are most riders, Vinales does hold some concern regarding his bike’s tyre management over race distance. However, he feels that his pace over long runs is consistent and ‘efficient’, so expect the Spaniard to be gunning for his third podium of the season tomorrow.
“Today we did a really good job, we improved since yesterday and also found an effective time attack that resulted in the second position. This morning, my team delivered me an improved machine that allowed me to enter the Q2 and then in the afternoon we really hit the good lap,” Vinales stated.
“We also worked on the pace in FP4 and I feel consistent and efficient, although I still feel we can find something to further improve. We will work on this, as tomorrow, the race will be very hard, so it’s important to try all we can to make a good race. Tyres will also be important; they will drop their performance a lot in the race so it will be important to be careful to preserve them.”
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